Miss Spit Fire
by alternate universe1
Summary: After learning the truth about her father, India Foryst transfers to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to complete her last two years of school. She soon becomes best friends with Hermione Granger and falls in love with the old castle. The only downside is having to deal with her childhood friend turned enemy, Draco Malfoy, and her family "friend" Severus Snape.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: All belongs to JK Rowling.**

Chapter 1: The sorting hat

India Foryst stood at the back of the dark room and watched the overly excited first years bouncing up and down and talking animatedly with their soon to be best friends. She was an average height for a sixteen year old, with dark brown almond shaped eyes. Her long dark brown hair was tied back in her usual French braid and she stood with her arms crossed, leaning back against the wall.

The day had been long and tiring, and the last thing she felt like doing was going out on stage to be sorted. What a stupid concept sorting was, she thought. How on earth could anyone, let alone an old hat, know who you really were? Oh course, she had not met a single other person who shared this view. People at Hogwarts seemed to be very attached to their houses.

However, no matter what her personal opinions were on the matter, she knew the sorting hat would have a fun time with her. She was the oldest student ever to be sorted in all of Hogwarts history. Having completed the first five years of her wizarding education at Beauxbatons in France, she was now forced to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in dreary old England.

Oh course, "forced" wasn't exactly the right word to use. She had had a choice in the matter, and although she missed Beauxbatons terribly, she had chosen to finish her last two years of schooling at Hogwarts; the school both of her parents had attended long ago. Her parents. She pushed the thought out of her mind and concentrated on the scene in front of her.

A stern-looking woman she had been introduced to as Professor McGonagall, was standing near the doors to the Great Hall and was herding the first years into a straight line. Quite a hard task actually. India smiled as she watched the little first years step on each other's toes and push each other around.

Once they had been herded into a somewhat straight line, Professor McGonagall opened the doors to the Great Hall and flooded the dark little side room with little. Blinking at the bright light, the line of first years made their way onto the stage with somewhat stunned expressions on their faces, and India had just the time to catch a glimpse of the four house tables before the doors to the Great Hall slammed shut and left her once again near total darkness.

The entire hall erupted in loud applause and cheers and India walked forward and pressed her eye against the crack in the door to get a peek at the hall. It was very beautifully decorated and the ceiling reflected the starry night sky outside. Her mother had told her a lot about the Great Hall, about how beautiful it was at Christmas, about how good the food tasted, about how snow seemed to fall from the ceiling in winter and disappear right before hitting their heads.

India looked around in wonder. It was beautiful, in an old-fashioned sort of way. Beauxbatons was flashy and new, but Hogwarts had a sort of charm to it that made you fall in love with it instantly. India was feeling better by the minute about her decision to attend Hogwarts.

As the last first year to be sorted, Pamela Wigby, took her seat at the Hufflepuff table, Dumbledore rose from his seat at the Great Table and addressed the students. "Welcome, to both our new and returning students. May each and everyone one of you accomplish great things in the year to come." He smiled warmly at the students before continuing. "Before we begin the feast, I have a few announcements to make. First of all, I would like to introduce to you, an old colleague and friend of mine, Horace Slughorn. Professor Slughorn has graciously accepted to resume his old post as Potions Master. Please give him a warm welcome."

The hall erupted once more into applause, and India looked up at the Great Table to see an enormously fat man struggling to stand up. His overstuffed belly nearly knocked the table over and India saw an annoyed looking Professor McGonagall move a few dishes out of his way.

As the applause died down, Dumbledore continued his speech. "Since Professor Slughorn will be teaching Potions, Professor Snape has kindly agreed to take over the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

The entire hall broke out into a murmur and India could tell that Snape was not well liked. Only a few Slytherins clapped and gave a few shouts and Snape didn't even bother to stand up. Well, she thought, he deserves this kind of a welcome. He's a bloody Death Eater for crying out loud! She looked over at him and saw him lean in and whisper something to her mother, who was sitting beside him. She smiled and laughed and gently rubbed his arm, but he didn't even crack a smile. Whatever he had said, he didn't seem to find it amusing.

After a moment, Dumbledore continued with his speech. "There is one more addition to our staff this year. Professor Iris Foryst is a healer from St. Mungo's who has graciously accepted to teach an introduction to healing course for students in sixth and seventh year. Given the present circumstances, we decided that it would be advisable to provide some first-aid training for the older students. Please give a warm welcome to Professor Foryst."

For the third time that evening, the hall erupted with cheers and India saw her mother stand up from her seat and smile genuinely at the students. India knew the students were bound to love her mother, everyone who met her loved her, and India didn't blame them. Her mother was her idol and her role model, but despite their physical resemblance, India was completely different.

India's sharp tongue had earned the name Miss Spit Fire, and her fiery temper flared a little too often for her liking. Her mother on the other hand was always calm and serene, ever forgiving, ever humble, ever kind. India had tried all her life to be like her mother, but to no end. She was proud and self-righteous and had strong opinions that she never grew tired of voicing. She would not stand for the slightest injustice and could not bear to see someone cry. She was compassionate and fiercely loyal to her friends; a nightmare to her enemies.

India was pulled out of her reveries at the sound of Dumbledore's voice. "Professor Foryst's daughter has decided to transfer from Beauxbatons to Hogwarts to complete the last two years of her wizarding education. She will be in sixth year this year, and I trust you will all make her feel at home. Please welcome Miss India Foryst!"

The doors to the Great Hall swung open and India stepped out into the blinding light. Blinking, she made her way over to Dumbledore and shook his hand. Professor McGonagall gestured for her to come and sit on the stool to be sorted and she obliged, somewhat unenthusiastically.

Unlike the tiny first years, the sorting hat didn't fall down and cover her eyes, it fit her head perfectly. She nearly jumped with shock when the hat started talking to her. "Hmmm what an interesting one you are. I remember your parents very well, you know, quite a bit of trouble your father turned out to be hmm?" India told the hat mentally to shut up. "Feisty I see, but incredibly kind, you are. What a strange thing you are." The hat mused. India decided it was time to ask a favour. "Please don't put me in Slytherin." She begged. The hat chuckled. "You're not the first person to ask me that, but unlike the last boy who did, I have no intention of placing you in that house. You, my dear, are far too much of a GRIFFINDOR!" The hat shouted the last word to the entire hall.

India opened her eyes and realized that she hadn't even noticed that she'd closed them. She stared around at the cheering students and spotted the Griffindor table, which was cheering loudest of all. Smiling brightly, she made her way down the steps and over to the Griffindor table.

A girl with bushy brown hair waved her over, and moved to make room for her on the bench. "Hi", the girl said, "My name's Hermione Granger." India smiled, "Nice to meet you, I'm India." "I'm Ron", said a red-haired boy across the table, "And I'm Harry", said a boy with black hair and a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead.

India's mouth dropped open in spite of herself. She snapped it shut and tried to act normal. "Hi, it's nice to meet you." She replied, unable to pry her eyes away from Harry's scar for more than a second. He must be used to people acting like this by now, but it must still be annoying, she thought.

Just then, India heard Dumbledore say, "Enjoy!" and the tables suddenly filled up with dishes upon dishes of delicious-looking food. India smiled in delight and began to cut herself a piece of quiche. Hogwarts definitely won over Beauxbatons when it came it food.

Looking up, she caught sight of a head of white blond hair and recognized Draco Malfoy, sitting at the Slytherin table on the other end of the hall. He looked up and met her eyes. They stared at each other in shock for a moment before India slit her eyes and glared at him. He contorted his face into an arrogant smirk and India broke eye contact and stared at the bowl of potatoes instead. "India?" Hermione asked. "What?" India asked, embarrassed at having gotten so distracted. "Do you want some ketchup?" "Oh, um, no thanks." India replied quickly, and smiled. She hoped desperately that Hermione had not seen who she had been staring at.

After supper, Hemerione and Ron, seeing as they were prefects, had to lead the first years up to their dorms. Since India didn't know where to go, she followed Harry out of the Great Hall and up the wide staircase that led to Griffindor tower. "So are you French? You don't have an accent." Harry asked. "No", India replied laughing, "I'm completely English, I went to Beauxbatons because my mother doesn't believe in sorting. She thinks it stops people who are different from becoming friends." She lied. The opinion about sorting was her own, not her mothers, although her mother had pretended it was her own up until about a month ago. "Oh," said Harry, "I never thought of it like that before, "I'm glad we don't have to share dorms with the Slytherins though, that would be a nightmare." India laughed. "True."

That night, snuggling into her four poster bed in the sixth year girls' dormitory that she shared with Hermione and two other girls, Parvati and Lavender, India felt that Hogwarts might not be that bad after all. Maybe she truly would fall in love with this old castle. Just like her parents had.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: All belongs to JK Rowling.**

Chapter 2: Draught of Living Death and other poisons

India woke up to sunshine and fresh air. She rolled over and realized that Parvati had already woken up and opened the window, letting in the late summer air. She smiled and sat up slowly, her eyes still foggy with sleep. "What time is it?" She asked. Hermione and Lavender were starting to stir now too, so India guessed that it must not be too early in the day. "Nearly 7:30, I'm going down to breakfast." Replied Parvati.

India climbed out of bed, got changed, and made her way to the bathroom to brush her hair and teeth, and put her hair up into her usual French braid. She was more excited for her first day of classes at Hogwarts than she'd thought possible. It was only the circumstances of her arrival that had been less than desirable, that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy her time here.

When she got back to the room, she found Hermione dressed and ready to go down to the Great Hall for breakfast. They gave the still half-asleep Lavender a shake and made their way down the stairs. "Did you sleep well?" Hermione asked her as they walked. "Yes!" India exclaimed, "The beds are so comfortable! That was the best sleep I've had in a long time." Hermione smiled, "That's good, you'll really appreciate it come exam time." India laughed, "True." She replied.

When they arrived at the Griffindor table, they found Harry and Ron already up and eating breakfast. "What courses did you take?" Harry asked India. "Um", she thought for a moment, "Transfiguration...Potions...Divination...Care of Magical Creatures..." "You took Care of Magical Creatures?" Hermione asked. "Yeah, why do you ask?" India answered confused. "I think you're the only one who did." Hermione replied looking heartbroken. "Poor Hagrid (he's the teacher) he's going to be so upset." "Why didn't any of you take it?" India asked perplexed, "It's my favourite subject." Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other. "Well..." Began Ron, "You see Hagrid, he's a great friend and all, but he's not...meant for teaching...I mean, I just prefer to keep my limbs attached to my body." "Ron!" Hermione cried. "Well it's true!" Ron said defensively. India looked around at the three of them, utterly bemused.

Just then, Professor McGonagall came by their table and to hand out their schedules. "Potter, I thought it was your intention to become an auror." She asked Harry sternly. "Yes, it was." Harry replied somewhat sadly. "Well then why haven't you taken Advanced Potions?" She demanded. "I can't, I needed an O on my OWL, but I only got an E." He explained. "While Professor Snape only accepts O students, Professor Slughorn is very happy to accept students who obtain an E." She stated. "I am going to add Potions to your timetable, and to yours too Weasley." She added. She then handed them their timetables and turned to India and Hermione. "I hope you have a wonderful first day at Hogwarts Miss Foryst, see you in Transfiguration." She said and handed her and Hermione their timetables.

"What a day!" Exclaimed Ron. "Two free periods! We only have Potions, Defense against the Dark Arts, and...Healing? I didn't know I signed up for that." "It's a required course given the _circumstances." _India explained. "My entire life has been a healing course, but I still have to go." She shrugged. "Oh well, I'll get to see how people react to my mother. That's always fun." Hermione looked at her questioningly, "What do you mean fun?" India smiled impishly, "You'll see."

As Hermione and India headed off to their first class of the day, Ancient Runes, Ron and Harry returned to the common room to enjoy their time off. By the end of Ancient Runes, India was beginning to wish she had had a free period too. Ancient Runes, although she found it fascinating, was not the easiest subject, and her and Hermione left the class already feeling stressed about the amount of homework they needed to do.

Back in the common room, they met up with Ron and Harry before making their way to Advanced Potions. "Slughorn was here when my mother was at school." India said, "Mom said people used to bribe him with candies to get good marks." Ron and Harry laughed, but Hermione frowned. "That's pretty low." She said, barely managing to keep herself from smiling.

"Welcome students!" Professor Slughorn boomed to the small class. Since Advanced Potions was so hard, only four Ravenclaws, four Slytherins, and one Hufflepuff were in the class along with India, Hermione, Harry, and Ron. Unfortunately for India, Draco was one of the smartest in the grade, and had therefore managed to get into Advanced Potions. He gave her a cold stare as she entered, and she returned it with an equally poisonous lookl. As India sat down at a table with her friends and the Hufflepuff boy, whose name she learned was Ernie MacMillan, she wondered how she would be able to stand two entire years in the same room as Draco.

Slughorn's voice lifted India out of her reverie. "Does anyone know the names of these two potions?" He asked, gesturing to a large cauldron of black potion and a rather small cauldron of pure gold potion. Instantly, Hermione's hand shot up in the air. Professor Slughorn pointed to her and said, "Yes, miss..." "Hermione Granger, please." Hermione said. "The black potion is called Draught of Living Death, and the gold potion is called Felix Felicis, also known as liquid luck." Slughorn beamed. "Very well done, Miss Granger! Very well done! 5 points for Griffindor" Hermione smiled and India realized that Hermione put a lot of value on succeeding at school, more, India thought, than was strictly necessary.

"Today, we are going to have a little competition. Whoever can brew the best Draught of Living Death by the end of class will be awarded one vile of Felix Felicis. I have only taken Felix Felicis twice in my life, but I remember both of those days fondly. Perfect days, they were." India thought longingly of what it would be like to have a perfect day. She had already brewed Draught of Living Death before at Beauxbatons, so she thought she stood a pretty good chance at winning. She opened her textbook to the right page and read the first line of instructions. That's completely wrong! She thought. What idiot wrote this book? She wondered. Trying desperately to remember the correct way to brew the potion, she began cutting up toad legs.

About fifteen minutes later, she looked up to see that Hermione, although she was widely known as the smartest student in the grade, was having a lot of difficulty with the potion. Harry however, who had only gotten an E on his Potions OWL, was doing it perfectly, and much faster than she was. "You need to crush the beetles, not cut them", she heard Harry telling Hermione. How did he know that? She wondered. Did he have a different textbook? Peeking over her cauldron, India glanced inconspicuously at his textbook and her eyes widened in shock. "Harry, can I see your book for a second?" She asked him casually. Harry looked up surprised and handed her his textbook, shrugging. The book was old and tattered, nearly falling apart, and black spidery writing covered almost every page. India could have recognized that handwriting anywhere. It was as repulsive to her as the man to whom it belonged. She flipped to the inside of the cover page and read: _This book is the property of the Half Blood Prince._ Well she thought, there's the proof. Disgusted, she handed the book back to Harry and turned her focus back to her potion.

At the end of the class, although she had not made any mistakes, her potion was not quite complete. Trying to remember the correct steps had lost her quite a bit of time. Professor Slughorn circled around the class looking at the students' cauldrons. Although this class contained the brightest students in sixth year, not one single student had managed to brew a proper Draught of Living Death; except for Harry. Professor Slughorn's fat face lit up with joy as he saw Harry's cauldron. "My boy! What a talent you have for Potions! Just like your mother, she was an excellent Potions student too you know. One of my favourite pupils." He taped Harry affectionately on the back. "We have our winner. Congratulations Harry, you have won a vile of Felix Felicis, use it wisely." Professor Slughorn handed him the vile of gold liquid and India caught his eye and smiled, as if to say congratulations.

As the students packed up at the end of class, India leaned over and whispered in Harry's ear. "Be careful of that book, you don't know who wrote in it. They may not have the best intentions." Harry looked at her surprised. "Whoever wrote in that book just won me Felix Felicis, they can't be that bad...they're brilliant!" "Lots of terrible people are brilliant." She replied seriously. Harry shrugged and left the classroom with Ron. India waited for Hermione to pack up her things before turning to leave. She had almost made it to the door when she felt a hand clasp onto her arm and heard an unwelcome, but familiar voice.

"Hey." Draco said, pulling her around to face him. "What, so you're not even going to say hi to me?" India realized with a shock that she had hurt him. Good, she thought, he deserved it. "Get your hands off me!" She snarled, yanking her arm out of his grasp. Hermione turned around and stared in shock at the scene in front of her. "Go on, I'll catch up with you." She said to Hermione, and Hermione reluctantly turned to leave the classroom.

India turned back to Draco. "You arrogant prat, why on earth do you think I would want anything to do with you after all you've done." She hissed. "It was two years ago, get over it!" Draco answered hotly. "No", replied India, "Two years ago was when I realized that you were embarrassed to be friends with me because of my blood status. That was when I finally realized that the exception that applies to my mother, does not apply to me, and that you were stupid enough to believe your father's idiotic ideas about pureblood supremacy. And now...you're a bloody Death Eater!" Draco shushed her and ushered her out into the hall and into an empty classroom. Closing the door behind them he turned on her. "How do you know about that?" He demanded. India smiled poisonously. "My mother told me, and I would tell it to the Ministry of Magic if she hadn't sworn me to secrecy. One day though, you're going to end up where you belong: in Azkaban, just like your father. That, or dead. Personally, I'm hoping for the worst, but you never know." India was burning with rage. "Stay away from me Malfoy. You're right, I'm not my mother. I have standards." She pushed past him out into the hall, her face beat red, and slammed the door of the classroom behind her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: All belongs to JK Rowling.**

Chapter 3: Mixed emotions

India was so concerned with getting as far away from Draco Malfoy as possible that it was a good five minutes before she realized she was going in the completely wrong direction. She had nearly reached the Great Hall, but the Muggle Studies classroom she was supposed to be in was up on the third floor. She was going to be so late! She hoped desperately that Hermione would not ask what had happened, and that they could just forget about it.

A few minutes later, she arrived breathlessly at the door to the Muggle Studies classroom. Taking a moment to compose herself, she leaned against the wall and felt her pulse slow down. She opened the door slowly and saw that the class was not much bigger than her Potions class. The teacher, whom she knew to be called Professor Charity Burgess, was a young, blond woman with a kind face who smiled at her as she entered. "I'm so sorry I'm late, I got lost." India half-lied. Professor Burgess smiled, "Don't worry dear, we're just starting, you haven't missed much. Take a seat wherever you like." Feeling relieved and grateful towards her new teacher, India made her way over to Hermione's table and sat down, avoiding eye contact with her. Just don't ask me. India prayed silently, hoping against hope that Hermione would somehow understand.

The class was an hour long, but to India it seemed like ten minutes. By the end, she had absolutely no idea what Professor Burgess had said, she had been too obsessed with her own thoughts. She had replayed the scene with Draco over and over again in her mind, remembering every single word they had said. She had told him she wanted him dead. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't suppress the feeling of guilt that came over her whenever she thought of it. This said, she still felt furious and had no intention whatsoever of forming any sort of truce with him.

At the end of class, Hermione stood up and gathered up her stuff. "Hey India?" She said quietly, not looking at her. "Yeah?" Replied India, fearing the worst. "I know we haven't known each other very long, but if you ever need someone to talk to...you can always talk to me." Hermione said, sounding slightly nervous. India smiled affectionately at Hermione, she was liking her more and more by the minute. "Thanks." She replied, and let out a sigh. Without meaning to, she found herself telling Hermione more than she had meant to. "What happened back there goes back to when my mother was here at Hogwarts. It's too complicated to explain, even I don't understand everything. Draco and I were childhood friends, then...he betrayed me two years ago at the Quidditch World Cup because he was embarrassed to be friends with me. My mother is a muggle born, and my paternal grandfather was a muggle. My blood isn't quite pure enough for Draco. And now...he's done something I can _never_ forgive him for. Anyway, it doesn't matter. From now on, I'm going to try to ignore him as much as possible, I just hope he does the same." Hermione looked at her half sympathetically, half curiously. "I think he really cares about you though," Hermione said slowly, "I've never seen him look at someone like that before." India laughed bitterly, "No Hermione, he doesn't care about me, he just can't stand the thought that someone hates him."

. . . . .

After lunch, Hermione, India, Harry, and Ron made their way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. They were all slightly apprehensive as to what Snape might be like teaching this subject. As they reached the classroom, India made up her mind that she would avoid all form of contact with Snape, and try her best to be invisible. She hadn't spoken to him for at least two months; ever since her mother had told her the truth about her father. Every time he had come by to visit her mother, she had quickly gone to her room, locked the door, and refused to come out. Her mother may be naïve enough to think he was on their side, but India knew better. People don't just stop being Death Eaters.

The classroom was dark and unwelcoming and the walls were covered with disturbing photos such as people under the Cruciatus curse. She could tell the entire class was wondering if Snape was really going to teach them how to defend themselves against the Dark Arts, or if he was going to teach them how to _use_ the Dark Arts. Her, Harry, Hermione, and Ron found a table at the back of the classroom and sat down just as Snape turned to face the class.

"In the past, you have had a series of incompetent teachers. This has led to a serious lack of knowledge of Defense Against the Dark Arts. A problem which, I intend to resolve. However, before we begin, I want to make myself very clear. There will be a very large amount of homework in this class and I expect it all well done and on time. Any late or incomplete essays will receive a zero. Are there any questions?" India glared at him. Did he really have to be so intense about everything? But of course, he had always been like that; it was only recently that it had started bothering her.

Although the class was interesting, India felt her patience for Snape's insults, especially towards Harry, slowly thinning. By the end of the class, she literally had to bite her tongue to stop from saying something offensive that could potentially lead to another scene like the one she had had with Draco. She was not about to have two fights like that in one day. She was extremely grateful when the class finished and she was able to step out into the sunlit corridor and make her way towards her last class of the day: Healing.

India had been looking forward to Healing all day, not for the subject, but to see how her fellow sixth years responded to her mother. Her mother was eccentric in the best of ways and always entertaining. Like India she had brown almond shaped eyes, high cheekbones, and long hair. The only difference was that unlike her own dark brown hair, her mother's hair could not be described as anything but pure gold.

As they entered her classroom, India was struck by the difference in atmosphere. Where Snape's classroom had been dark and almost eerie, her mother's was full of late afternoon sunlight and a warm breeze was coming in from the window. The chairs and desks were arranged in a circle and her mother was standing in the center, writing her name on a floating chalkboard. Her hair was hanging loose around her shoulders and her garden snake Salem was wrapped around her neck like a scarf. India realized she hadn't seen her mother since she had arrived at Hogwarts and she was still having difficulty trying to wrap her head around the fact that her mother was really going to be her teacher this year.

Her mother looked up as she walked in and smiled brightly. "How was your first day?" She asked. India smiled and opened her mind for her mother to "read". Her mother was one of the best legilimens India had ever met, and when India didn't want or feel like telling a story, she would just let her mother see for herself. Through this, she had become an excellent occlumens, because every time she let her mother get inside her head, she had to pick an choose just what information she wanted her to see. Today, for instance, she blocked out some of the nastier parts of her and Draco's conversation. After reading, her mother smiled sympathetically before turning to speak to Harry.

"Nice to meet you again, Harry." Harry blinked and India stared from her mother to Harry and back again. Nice to meet you _again_? Harry looked just as confused as India. "Have we met before?" He asked. Her mother started making her way out of the circle of chairs as more and more students started sitting down. "I asked you a few questions about the journal you found in second year." She said, failing to clarify anything at all for India. "Oh! That was you!" Harry exclaimed, understanding lighting up his face. Her mother laughed, "Yes, that was me. Maybe we can catch up later in the year, I think Dumbledore would like to have a conversation with you first though." She turned around and walked back to the floating chalkboard, leaving India, Hermione, and Ron in confusion.

Just then, Draco and his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, walked in, and India was painfully reminded that the Griffindors had Healing with the Slytherins. Luckily, he didn't look at her once, and went to sit on the other side of the classroom, as far away from her as possible. She saw her mother walk over to greet him and saw him even crack a small, but genuine smile at her jokes. What hypocrites Death Eaters were! Of course, they're famous excuse was that although her mother was a muggle born, she was different...almost inhuman, and that the rules didn't apply to her. India just thought it was all a bunch of nonsense.

Finally, Professor Foryst returned to the front of the class and addressed the students. "Welcome to Healing!" She said beaming. "I know that this is an unusual course, but it is very useful. There will be a war soon, and I think that many of you will be able to put what you learn in this class to good use. Now, before we begin, I'm going to make a few things clear." She paused and looked around the room. "I am very happy to be here teaching you, but you will have to let me know as we go along if I'm doing a good job. After all, I am a Healer, not a teacher. I promise you won't offend me if you say you are having difficulty learning from me." She laughed. "I just want you all to be as prepared as possible for the coming years. We don't know how long Lord Voldemort will be around." Nearly half the class drew in a sharp breath at the sound of his name. India rolled her eyes.

"Although there will be homework and exams in this class, just like any other, I am going to try to show you how to make them enjoyable. "Good luck with that." India heard Ron whisper to Harry. "If you give in a work late, we'll have a little conversation about why that is, and then depending on the reason, you'll either get more time, extra help lessons, or a very long lecture." She said jokingly. "If you find you really hate this course and that you really hate the way I teach, you aren't allowed to quit so you'll just have to learn to live with it. Hopefully we'll all have a good time though." She finished, leaving the students wondering what her intentions were.

"Ok, so first of all, how many of you have been inside a Pensieve before?" India, Harry and a few other students raised their hands. "Alright, well a Pensive is a place where you can store your extra memories to clear your mind. It is also very useful for showing others your memories. Every now and then in this class, I am going to give you each a small Pensieve containing a few of my memories of St. Mungos and as long as we all go into the same memory at the same time, we should all end up in the same place. Therefore, I will be able to show you exactly what I mean when I describe certain spells. Hopefully it will also help to make the class more interesting." India looked around at her fellow classmates and saw that they seemed quite excited about the idea. "For now though, we are going to start with some theory. Please take out your notebooks."

By the end of the period, India had regained her good humour and was laughing along with the rest of the class at her mother's jokes. Somehow, Iris Foryst managed to make even the worst days seem just a bit brighter.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: All belongs to JK Rowling.**

Chapter four: Secret Schemes

As days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, India found that she was starting to love Hogwarts even more than she had loved Beauxbatons; something she had thought impossible. She had become closer with Hermione, Ron, and Harry than she had been with any of her friends at Beauxbatons, and she was enjoying her classes more than ever. Another upside was that since their fight on the first day of classes, Draco had not said a word to her. Every now and then, one would catch the other looking their way and they would both quickly avert their eyes. She also noticed Pansy Parkinson, Draco's girlfriend for over two years, smirking at her once in a while. This, India found incredibly irksome, but tried hard to ignore it because she didn't want to speak to anyone associated with Draco.

One annoyance she couldn't ignore however, was Snape. She only lasted two Defense Against the Dark Arts classes before blurting out an insult in response to something he had said to Harry. From then on, they were at each other's throats from the moment she stepped into the classroom until the moment she left. He had begun calling her by her old nickname again, Miss Spit Fire, and often made subtle remarks about her father that only the two of them could understand. He had also begun giving her detentions nearly every class. As a result, her evenings were often passed in Snape's office, cleaning and reorganizing his bookshelves without the help of magic. All the while, Snape would sit at his desk and correct essays, giving her occasional warnings about what would happen if she didn't do the task properly. The detentions became just as painful as the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes and she continually wondered why Snape always insisted in staying in the room while she worked. She assumed it must be because he didn't trust her with his personal items.

Luckily, she rarely had detention on the weekends. At the moment, she was particularly grateful for this, because both the Griffindor Quidditch team tryouts and the first Hogsmead trip of the year were scheduled for the coming weekend. Harry was the captain of the Griffindor Quidditch team and Ron was going to audition again this year for a position on the team. Ron, whom India soon realized, was always comparing himself to Harry, was extremely nervous about the upcoming auditions. Harry, it seemed, was also nervous for him. He wanted Ron to be part of the team, but he knew that even though he was his best friend, he couldn't let him in unless he truly was the best choice. This put Harry in a somewhat awkward situation, and India noticed that he and Ron frequently neglected their studies to go out and practice.

On the morning of the auditions, Harry, Ron, India, and Hermione woke up early and ate a quick breakfast in the Great Hall before making their way down to the Quidditch pitch. A cold wind was blowing, and the trees of the forbidden forest were just beginning to turn red, orange, and yellow. Ron, on the other hand, was turning a pale shade of green.

"Oh, I hope Ron's nerves don't get the best of him!" Hermione whispered nervously to India as they left Ron and Harry on the pitch and made their way up into the stands to watch the tryouts. "He's great when no one's watching." Hermione added. India sighed, "Too bad people enjoy watching Quidditch." Hermione sat down began rubbing her bare hands together for warmth. India sat down next to her and pointed down at the Quidditch pitch. "Who's that talking to Ron and Harry?" She asked. "Cormac McLaggen." Hermione replied. "He's as disgusting as an ogre." She added. India laughed, "Well he keeps looking up at us, maybe he fancies you." Hermione snorted, "If he's going to fancy one of us, it's going to be you." India shook her head, but dropped the subject.

Just then, Harry blew the whistle and called everyone to attention. Nothing happened. He tried again, and once again no one seemed to pay him any attention. Finally, Ron's sister Ginny, whom India had only spoken to once or twice, screamed at the top of her lungs, "SHUT UP!" Instantly, the entire crowd of Quidditch players stopped talking and a slightly unnerving silence fell. "There. Thank you." Ginny said calmly, and turned to Harry.

"All right everyone, to begin, get into groups of ten players and fly once around the pitch. Those who pass this stage of the auditions will take turns playing the positions they are auditioning later." India and Hermione watched in bewilderment as the worst Quidditch players they had ever seen attempted to fly around the pitch. Some of them were first years, too young to even audition, and some of them were not even Griffindors! "I'm terrible at Quidditch, but even I could do better than that!" India exclaimed. "At least Ron will have a better chance at making the team." Hermione said hopefully.

By the time the second stage of the auditions began, only a dozen of the over fifty Quidditch players who had showed for the tryouts remained. At least they were all half decent, and some, such as Katie Bell, were even really good. McLaggen was quite good too, and Hermione even admitted reluctantly that he would be tough competition for Ron. "Well, you could always Confund him." India said jokingly. To her surprise, Hermione looked at her with a strange expression. "Hermione, I was joking." India said. "If I did...you wouldn't tell anyone would you?" Hermione asked, looking more and more guilty by the second. "It's just...Ron's worked so hard...and I know he'll be really disappointed...and McLaggen is a troll who-" India burst out laughing. "I won't tell, Hermione." She said. "I just have a hard time believing you'd actually do something like that!" Hermione turned red and looked down at the Quidditch pitch. "Here comes Katie with the Quaffle." She whispered as she slowly removed her wand from her pocket, trying to hide it as much as possible in her coat. "Confundo!" Hermione whispered just as Katie threw the Quaffle towards the goal. McLaggen swerved weirdly to the right and nearly fell off his broom as the Quaffle soared past his head and into the goal.

Immediately, Harry blew the whistle and called all the players back down to the ground. "Alright everyone, this concludes our tryouts. Ron Weasley will be Keeper since he has saved the most goals. Congratulations to everyone who made it onto this year's Quidditch team, and I hope those that didn't continue to play and audition again next year. You're free to go!" India and Hermione stood up, clapping and cheering loudly, as they watched Ron let out a victory scream and McLaggen throw his gloves onto the ground angrily.

As they made their way down the steps and onto the pitch to congratulate Ron, India overheard McLaggen talking angrily to another Quidditch player who had not made the team. "I don't know what happened, I must have blacked out or something! The next thing I knew, the Quaffle was zooming past my head and I was hanging onto my broom for dear life!" India felt a twinge of guilt and looked down at the ground. She shouldn't have let Hermione do that. Well, she thought, I'll blame it on my mother for letting me spend so much time at the Malfoys.

India and Hermione soon forgot about the whole thing as they got caught up in the celebrations that continued late into that night. Ron was so relieved and proud to have made the team that he talked of nothing but Quidditch for the rest of the day. India and Hermione, who didn't quite understand Harry and Ron's passion for the sport, found his tiring and finally managed to escape to their dormitory around ten that night.

"You said earlier that you played Quidditch, why didn't you audition? Hermione asked India as they climbed the stairs to their dormitory. "I'm terrible, and I don't really enjoy it that much. I only play when my friends make me." She explained. "I have a broom though, and I enjoy flying." India continued as they entered the empty dormitory. She walked over to her four poster bed and knelt down to pull out an old broom from under it. "That's a Nimbus 2000!" Exclaimed Hermione. "I remember when Harry got one of those back in first year and everyone was jealous because it was the best broom there was at the time!" India laughed, "I got mine in first year too, guess who gave it to me?" She asked smirking. Hermione hesitated, "Umm...I have no clue, do I know them?" "Lucius Malfoy." India replied, laughing at the look of surprise and confusion on Hermione's face. "It was a Christmas present. Apparently a repayment for something my mother had done for him back when they were at Hogwarts. Draco was so mad! I had to tell him that his father had bought me a good broom to make up for my poor flying abilities!" India laughed bitterly, "Even back then he was a spoiled brat." She said. Hermione looked at her with an oddly, and an awkward silence filled the room. "Well, I'm going to bed." India said finally, breaking the silence. "Goodnight."

. . . . .

"I can't believe you haven't been to Hogsmeade since you were nine!" Ron exclaimed as they started walking towards Hogsmeade. Although it was only October, thick, white, fluffy snowflakes were falling from the sky and the grass and trees were already coated with white. It was hard to believe that just the day before, it had looked and felt like fall, and now it felt like winter. Although a part of India missed sunny France, she loved the snow, and had never really minded the cold.

"Can you even remember what it looks like?" Ron asked India. "Well...I remember a candy shop-" "Honeydukes!" Ron exclaimed, cutting her off. "Lets go there first, then we need to show you Zonkos, and you need to go to the Three Broomsticks and try butterbeer, and-" "Calm down Ron!" Harry said, and India burst out laughing. "It's alright, I'm so excited! I heard the shrieking shack was supposed to be the most haunted building in Britain, can we go there too?" She asked enthusiastically. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other. "It's not haunted." Hermione said smiling, "It's the place they used to put Harry's father's friend when he turned into a werewolf. He made quite a racket and people thought he was a ghost." "Are you serious?" India said laughing, "That's hilarious! Well I still want to go see it anyway." "There's a secret entrance under the Whomping Willow, maybe we can take you there sometime." Harry said. Hermione shot him a look, "We absolutely can not, you can't go running around like that Harry, it's not safe!" Harry rolled his eyes, but dropped the subject.

Five hours later, they left the Three Broomsticks full of candy and butterbeer and stepped out into what had become a blizzard. The snow was falling in thick heavy flakes and a bitter cold wind was continually blowing snow into their faces. India, Hermione, Ron, and Harry walked in silence, thinking only of the fireplace back in Griffindor tower.

Just then, India caught sight of two snowy figures walking on the road in front of them. Straining her ears to hear what they were saying, she caught bits and pieces of what seemed to be an argument. "Come on Katie, tell me what you have in that package!" The first girl begged anxiously. "I need to bring it to the castle." Replied the second girl. "Yes, but why? Who told you to?" The first girl asked impatiently. "I need to bring it to the castle." Replied the second girl once more.

India felt her stomach begin to twist and turn, something wasn't right. She looked over at Harry and caught his eye, and they exchanged a worried look. Just then, she heard a piercing scream and she whipped her head around to see Katie suspended over a metre above the ground, arms and legs spread out wide. She stayed suspended in the air for a moment and then collapsed to the ground, immobile.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and India rushed forward as Katie's friend started crying. "What happened?" Hermione cried and went to give the girl a hug. India looked down at Katie and noticed something sliver and shiny poking out from under a cloth near her hand. Harry also noticed it and bent down to pick it up. "Don't touch that!" India cried, and Harry looked up in alarm. "That's the thing she was carrying to the castle, we don't know what it is, it could be dangerous." She said frantically. Kneeling down beside the parcel, she slowly removed the cloth, making sure not to touch the shiny object inside. The shiny object, she discovered, was a silver necklace with blue stones, as familiar to her as the back of her hand. India stood up abruptly and turned to the crying girl, "Where did she get that?" She demanded. It took the poor girl a moment before she could respond. "Sh-sh-she f-f-found it in the b-b-bathroom." She managed to say, "Sh-sh-she said she needed to gi-gi-give it to D-d-dumbldore." India's heart missed a beat. She no longer felt cold, in fact, she was starting to feel very hot. So that was Draco's mission: the assassination of Albus Dumbledore.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Some Riddles Are Best Left Unsolved

"I know who did this." Harry said. They were standing in Professor McGonagall's office explaining what had happened to Katie. Katie's friend, whom they had discovered was named Leanne, had not stopped crying the entire way back to Hogwarts, and had finally left to go visit Katie in the hospital ward. India's mother had rushed to the hospital wing to help out Madam Pomfrey as soon as she'd heard about the incident. Although India was extremely glad that her mother would be able to heal Katie without having to send her to St. Mungos, she wanted nothing more at the moment than to talk privately with her. Why on earth was her mother and Dumbledore letting Draco run around with cursed necklaces? He had nearly killed someone! Oh course, Snape was the one who was supposed to be looking after him, but seeing as India was quite certain he was not on the right side of this war, his supervision was less than useless. How come Dumbledore knew Draco was trying to kill him, and yet made no attempts to stop him? None of it made sense, and India had a strong feeling that she was missing something. Despite everything, she trusted her mother and Dumbledore, and they had sworn her to secrecy. So, she would hold her tongue.

"You know who did this?" Professor McGonagall asked suspiciously. "It was Malfoy." Harry said certainly. "I saw him looking at that necklace in Borgin and Burkes, he must have bought it." Professor McGonagall looked at Harry sternly. "That's a very serious accusation to make without having any real proof, Harry. In fact, I happen to know that Malfoy was not even in Hogsmeade today. He was doing detention with me." Harry's mouth fell open in shock and India tried hard to hide her own surprise. How had he managed that? Maybe Snape was helping him? Her mind reeled under this new information and she tried in vain to come to some suitable conclusion as to how Draco had given Katie the parcel without ever leaving Hogwarts."Well I think you have helped enough, you may go now." Professor McGonagall said curtly, and gestured for them to leave the office.

"I told you Malfoy couldn't possibly be a Death Eater!" Hermione whispered to Harry once they were out of ear shot. "Yeah, the whole thing is quite unrealistic." Ron agreed. "You'll see, I'm going to prove it." Harry countered. "I heard him telling Parkinson on the train that he had been given a mission. Also, he disappears from the Marauders Map for hours at a time, that must be when he's working on whatever Voldemort has told him to do!"

"Harry", India said seriously, "Voldemort doesn't recruit sixteen year olds. You're making this whole thing up!" Harry looked at her, "Not you too! Ok, fine. We'll see who's right in the end. Until then, I'm keeping an eye on him." Harry said irritably. India bit her tongue, wishing desperately she could tell him he was right.

. . . . .

India had trouble getting out of bed the next day. She had stayed up late the night before, talking with Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati. Well, really she had been talking more with Lavender and Parvati than with Hermione. Lavender had been showing a great interest in Ron recently and Hermione, who did a poor job of hiding the fact that she loved Ron as more than just a friend, was getting more and more jealous by the day. Lately, she barely even spoke when Lavender was in the room, and tried her best to avoid her; something that wasn't very easy seeing as they shared a bedroom.

"You look like a zombie." Hermione said as they descended the stairs leading down to the Great Hall. "Yeah, you guys kept me up." India replied grumpily, but with a smile on her face. "Nothing good happens when I'm tired. Just warning you." She said jokingly.

Harry and Ron were already at the table eating breakfast when they arrived. Harry stopped talking abruptly when they arrived at the table, and India guessed that he had been talking about the meeting he had had with Dumbledore last night. Whatever had gone on in that meeting, it was obviously not meant for her ears.

"You look terrible!" Ron said as India sat down next to him. "Shut up Ron." Hermione said, despite the fact that she had said nearly the same thing a few minutes earlier. "Well at least you have Defense Against the Dark Arts to cheer you up!" Ron said to India, ignoring Hermione completely. "Oh year, great." India mumbled.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was their first class that day, and India enjoyed it even less when it was first thing in the morning. As they made their way slowly towards Snape's classroom, India prepared herself mentally for the coming hour. If he didn't say anything, she wouldn't either, she decided.

As soon as everyone was in their seats, Snape walked up and down the classroom to hand out the corrected essays. He paused in front of India before handing her essay to her. "Well you've managed once again to get a nearly perfect mark, despite my best efforts." India looked up at him with a falsely sweet smile on her face. "Yes well, you're just such a great teacher, I can't help but do well." She said poisonously. "Charming, you are. Just like your father." Snape replied, and moved on to hand out the rest of the essays.

"Open your books to page 346." Snape commanded as he returned to the front of the class. "Yes sir." India said under her voice, provoking a giggle from Ron. Hermione gave him a stern look, but it was too late, Snape had heard him. "Is there something funny, Weasley? Please share the joke with the rest of the class." "Oh, it wasn't really funny _Sev", _India said, calling him by the name she had called him by as a little girl. "I just told him how my mother and I used to use Petrificus Totalus on you in order to wash your hair once a month. Do you remember that?" She taunted as the entire class tried to smother their laughter. A faint hint of color came into Snape's pale cheeks and he glared at her. "I wonder where you got that attitude, certainly not from your mother. What a little puzzle you are, Miss Foryst. What a little riddle."

It took all of India's effort to stay in her seat and stop from whipping her wand out and cursing Snape. How dare he call her that! Taking deep breaths to calm herself, she managed to speak again after a minute or so without her voice quivering. "Is that supposed to be an insult?" She asked with a composure that surprised even herself. "Why would I insult you Miss Foryst, what could I possibly have against you?" Snape retorted sarcastically. "Anyway", Snape said turning his attention back to the class as a whole. "Vampires. That is what we will be focusing on for the next few classes. Their strengths, their weaknesses, where they can be found, and obviously, how to identify them."

India found it extremely difficult to pay attention to anything that Snape said for the rest of the class. As soon as the class ended, she stood up abruptly and packed her things as fast as possible and walked out of the class, not even waiting for Hermione, Harry, and Ron. She needed to clear her head and get her thoughts in order, or people would begin to ask questions. With Snape making remarks like that, she didn't need to give anyone any more reasons to be suspicious.

Her next class was Healing, and she couldn't have been more happy about it. She knew her mother would calm her temper like always. However, as she approached the classroom she saw the back of a familiar blonde head.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised you made it onto the team, Weasley. Having the captain for a best friend does have its perks doesn't it." She heard Draco drawl. India quickened her pace and came right up behind Draco before he even noticed she was there. "If I were you, I wouldn't be so cocky. I heard you had to buy your way onto the team in second year." Draco whipped around in surprise and stared at her. "Oh and here comes the champion Quiddtich player." Draco said sarcastically.

"I don't have to be good to determine if others have any real talent." She countered. "By the way, I thought I told you to stay away from me." She said venomously. "Since when do I take orders from you, you filthy mudblood." Draco snarled and India gritted her teeth. "You shouldn't use words like that in public. People might think you're on the wrong side of this war." India replied angrily, glancing quickly over at Hermione, Ron, and Harry, who were gaping open mouthed at the two of them. "How ironic that is coming from you." He said smirking. "I knew all along you know. I just didn't tell you. After all, we all had to protect your sweet innocence."

This was too much. India stepped forward and slapped him hard across the left cheek. Draco reeled under the impact and put up a hand to touch his now bright red cheek. India stared at him in horror, wondering what had come over her. Never in her life had she ever physically hurt someone on purpose. What was happening to her?

Just then the door to the Healing classroom opened, and her mother stood in the doorway staring at them. She took one glance at India's face, Draco's red cheek, and Hermione, Harry, and Ron's stunned expressions and knew exactly what had happened. "Well then." She said smiling. "This is Healing, not Defense Against the Dark Arts, there's no need to slap each other." India walked past her mother quickly, not daring to make eye contact. She knew her mother would never be angry with her, no matter what she did, and for some reason, that just made her feel even more guilty than if she would have screamed at her.

India walked to her seat and sat down in silence, not looking at anyone. Suddenly, she felt something wet touch her arm, and looked up to see her mother's pet snake, Salem, licking her. Salem was quite strange, and India thought he behaved more like a dog than a snake. Her looked up at her as if to see if she was okay, and then slithered up her arm to rest around her shoulders. He picked up his head and hissed in her ear. "You know. You should really learn to control your temper. I know he deserved it, but still. One day it could get you into trouble." "Oh shut up! If you had hands, you'd slap him too." She hissed back.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron whipped their heads around and stared at her. India stopped breathing. She had been so worked up, she had spoken Parseltongue and not even realized it. Her face turned as bright red as Draco's had been and she stood up abruptly, hastily removing Salem from her shoulders. "I think I'm going to be sick." She said, and picked up her things and ran out of the class, leaving her bewildered friends staring after her. "India!" She heard Hermione call out, but she ignored her and ran as fast as possible away from the classroom.

There was only one place she could think of going to. A place she had told herself she would never visit. She reached the bare stretch of wall on the third floor that she knew concealed a secret room that only two other people besides herself knew existed. Breathlessly, she whispered "Open" in Parseltongue and the wall slid away to reveal a small and narrow tunnel ending with a ladder propped up against the back wall. "Lumos", she whispered, and ducked inside quickly. The door closed behind her and she was left with only the light of her wand to guide her. She stumbled to the end of the tunnel and began climbing the ladder. Soon, she hit her head on the trap door, and as she lifted it up, a shower of dust poured down onto her, making her cough.

The room was smaller than her bedroom at home and coated with a thick layer of dust. The room had not been occupied since her parents had left Hogwarts, over fifty years ago. India flicked a switch, and the room lit up by magic. Walking around the room, she saw an old, torn couch, a bookshelf filled with ancient looking books, a dresser with stale old school robes and a few pieces of out of fashion Muggle clothing, and a table that was covered with photographs and a vase of long dried up roses. She walked over to look at the moving black and white photographs and used her wand to suck up most of the dust that covered them. Most of them were of her mother and father, laughing or kissing or dancing. There were also lots of graduation photos. She instantly recognized Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy, and Narcissa's deranged sister Bellatrix. One photo showed her mother and Andromeda hugging each other and laughing, dressed up in fancy dresses. The rest of the people in the photographs she didn't recognize, and guessed that either they had changed a lot since Hogwarts, or they were no longer in contact with her mother.

India pried her eyes away from the photographs and picked up an old tattered book from the bookshelf and began reading:

_The Triwizard Tournament is scheduled to start next week, and-_

India closed the book and opened it again on the first page.

_This is the diary of Iris Foryst during her fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

India replaced the book on the shelf and searched for her mother's first year diary. Finding it, she opened it up onto the first page and began reading:

_I absolutely LOVE Hogwarts! Everyone is so nice, and the castle is so pretty, and the food is so good, and the beds are so comfy! I only wish me and Charlotte were put in the same house. The sorting hat put her in Ravenclaw and it put me in Hufflepuff. Oh well, I made a new friend already! When me and Charlotte got on the train, we were really late and there were no free compartments. Charlotte found a compartment that only had room for one more person, so I told her she could sit there and that I'd find one nearby. Only I didn't. I walked all over the train until I finally found one that only that one boy in it. I opened the door and asked him if I could come in, since there were no other compartments available. Her said yes, so I sat down. He asked me what my name was, and I said that I was called Iris Foryst, and he said his name was Tom Riddle._

India closed the book with a snap. Why, oh why, couldn't her mother have chosen a different compartment?


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Aftershock

When India woke up the next day, she realized she had absolutely no idea what time it was. Inside of her parents' secret room, there was no indication of time. An old clock hung on the wall opposite the couch on which she had slept, but it had long ago stopped working. She carefully picked up her mother's first year diary and placed it back on the shelf, promising herself that she would keep coming back here until she had read her mother's entire collection of diaries. It was the only way she could truly understand what had happened during her parents' seven years at Hogwarts. How her mother had gone from a shy Hufflepuff to the "exception".

Her entire life had changed drastically in just a few short months and India was finding it hard to keep up, let alone accept. Over and over again, she replayed the scene back in August, when her mother had finally told her the truth. Her mother had called her into her room that day and told her to sit down. Her mother's pensieve had been placed on her desk and her mother had been sitting in a chair beside it.

"India, I need to tell you something, and before I do, I want you to promise me that you'll hear me out until I'm finished. What I'm about to tell you is going to shock and upset you, but it is crucial that you understand the whole story before you make any sort of rash judgments or decisions. Can you promise me that?"

Her mother had spoken to her in Parseltongue that day, as per usual, but that had been the last time India had not known why. "Yes." She had hissed back, feeling a sense of dread creeping up on her.

"Alright." Her mother hissed, and paused for a moment before continuing. "You're father is not dead. I told you he was dead because it was important that you not know who he is before a certain age. I am still in contact with him regularly and I always make sure to give him updates about how you're doing. He would like to meet you someday." Her mother had paused once again, and India had gripped the chair tightly to stop her hands from shaking.

"Your father's name is Tom Marvolo Riddle." Her mother had said while she wrote the letters in the air with her wand. "However", she had said, "he goes by another name now." Her mother had then swished the letters and reorganized them into a sentence that would forever be etched into the back of India's mind. _I am Lord Voldemort._ It had read.

India shook herself back to the present day. There was no use obsessing over it. She was who she had always been, knowing who her father was didn't change that. She hoped. Either way, it had been reckless to run away like that, and it hadn't been fair to her friends either. She needed to find them quickly and explain, even if it meant they hated her.

She rummaged through her parent's dresser until she found an old comb covered in dust. She sucked the dust up with her wand, undid her messy braid and brushed through her long hair, for once, not putting it back up in a French braid. Although her hair was naturally pin straight, it had a slight curl to it after having been braided for so long.

As she climbed back down the ladder, and back out of the passageway, she tried desperately to wipe off some of the dust that still clung to her crinkled robes. What a mess! She thought. I run out in the middle of a class and come back the next morning covered in dust. That's quite suspicious. Despite herself, she couldn't help but smile a little as she thought of her peculiar situation.

The sun was just beginning to rise as she made her way carefully and quietly back to Griffindor tower. She was eternally grateful that she had not slept in and might even be able to sneak back into bed before anyone woke up. It was a slim chance though.

Sure enough, when she opened the door to her dormitory she found Hermione already awake and sitting on her bed, combing her hair. She looked up in surprise at India as she entered the room before jumping to her feet and running towards her to give her a huge hug.

"It's alright, your mother explained everything! Don't worry, none of us hold anything against you. Who cares who your father is anyway? Where on earth have you been?!" Hermione asked as she stepped back to take in India's crinkled, dusty robes. "I'll tell you later." India replied, and despite herself, she felt tears slowly coming into her eyes. "I was certain you would think I was like him, that I was-" "You are _nothing _like your father! Maybe you're used to being around Slytherins who judge you for your family connections, but we are Griffindors, we have more sense than that." Hermione assured her, squeezing her tightly. India laughed shakily. "I need to get changed, I'll meet you down at the Great Hall, alright?" "Alright." Hermione said smiling, and left the room.

India quickly changed into some clean robes, brushed her teeth, and washed her face before hurrying down to the Great Hall for breakfast. She was feeling more relieved than she had thought possible, and was extremely grateful that her mother had decided to tell them the whole story. She made a mental note to thank her later.

When she arrived at the breakfast table, Harry and Ron both looked up at her and enthusiastically gestured for her to come sit down. "How are you doing?" Harry asked as she took a seat next to him. "Better." She replied, smiling. "How did my mother tell you? With the pensieve?" She asked. "Yeah", said Ron, "It was intense...and slightly unnerving...but it accomplished it's purpose." India laughed, "I'm glad. I was hoping no one would ever find out, but I guess secrets can only be kept for so long. Did my mother tell you I only found out this summer?" She asked. "Yes", replied Hermione, "That must have been a shock." "Just a bit." India replied, smiling.

Ron looked at her strangely, and seemed to be considering whether or not to say something. Finally, unable to restrain himself any longer, he blurted out the question he had been wanting to ask. "Why on earth didn't you tell us Snape was your babysitter?" "My mother told you that?" India asked, feeling slightly less grateful towards her mother. "She showed us." Harry replied. "I just think it's hilarious." Ron said, "I can't imagine Snape taking care of a child, it just seems wrong. And", He continued, "how come you never told us you grew up with Malfoy? You really have been hiding a lot from us India!" India felt her face reddening, and noticed Hermione glaring at Ron. "Well can you really blame me for not telling you any of this? So you're fine with me being Voldemort's daughter, but not with the fact that I grew up surrounded by Death Eaters?" India asked him angrily. "Alright, sorry, never mind." Ron mumbled as Hermione laid a hand on her arm to calm her down. India sighed, "Well at least you know where my temper comes from now. Like Snape said yesterday, it certainly doesn't come from my mother." She laughed bitterly.

"About your mother..." Harry began, and then paused, unsure of how to ask the question. "Whose side is she really on?" He asked, looking nervous about how she might react. India, however, was beginning to feel calm again, and had no reservations about talking about her mother. "No one's." She answered simply. "My mother cares about everyone equally, the Death Eaters and the members of the Order of the Pheonix alike. I know it sounds cheesy, but the fact is, everything she does is out of pure love. She has no objectives or expectations, she accepts everything the way it is." India paused for a moment and took in her friends' slightly confused faces. "She changed herself for him." She continued. "She doesn't feel remorse, she doesn't feel hatred, she doesn't judge anyone, ever. She is essentially a psychopath, but she has no desire to hurt anyone. I know this sounds strange, and I don't blame you at all if you don't trust her right away, she's not quite...human." India finished quietly.

"How do you know for sure that she is really who you think she is?" Harry asked after a moment's silence. India laughed, "I've been testing her all my life. I used to do crazy things, like set the house on fire or rip up the floorboards, just to see if she would ever be mad at me, if she would ever judge me or even be upset about it. Never did she ever scold me or show the slightest sign of annoyance. Its quite unnerving really, you don't ever really get used to it, but I still appreciate it. It's what she had to do to accept who the only boy she had ever loved was becoming, the only way she could still be with him. And...it worked. I'm the proof."

"How does...", Hermione hesitated, wondering what to call him, "your father love her? His entire philosophy, if you can call it that, is against muggle borns and muggles. And, even if it wasn't, he's a murdering lunatic, it just doesn't seem possible that he could actually care about someone." India looked at Hermione and realized that it was going to take a long time to convince her that her parent's peculiar relationship was actually real. She couldn't blame her, it had taken her at least a month before she even started to consider the possibility that her father could actually love her mother even though she spent the majority of her days in her mother's pensieve, trying to understand. "I know it's hard to wrap your head around, but think of it this way. Voldemort, from what I can tell, is practically incapable of loving another human being, but like I said, my mother's not human. He loves her, I think, because she is the very definition of perfection, in my opinion anyway. My father hates the world because it is a place where children are abandoned by their parents and no one lifts a finger to help them. He hates all people because they are all selfish, they all want to be liked, to be admired, to be loved. Lord Voldemort was created by our society, he is who he is today because everyone he knew growing up was too obsessed with their own little problems to notice that he was not alright. My mother was the only one who did. He loves her because she is not a part of this world, she's different and completely and utterly selfless."

India looked around at her friends' stunned expressions and a heavy silence descended upon the table. "Well that was deep." Ron said finally, breaking the silence. India laughed and after a moment, Ron, Harry, and Hermione joined in too. They laughed until their ribs hurt and India felt the happier than she had been in a long time.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The secret room

"Pass the orange juice." India hissed to Harry. "Here.", Harry hissed back, and handed her the heavy pitcher. Noticing Ron and Hermione's expressions, India and Harry exchanged a weary look. "Did we do it again?" She asked, already knowing the answer. Hermione nodded. "I don't see why you should keep trying to hide it anymore." Hermione said, "Everyone knows now anyway."

It was true, ever since she had stopped actively trying not to speak Parseltongue in front of Ron, Harry, and Hermione, her and Harry had been having entire conversations in Parseltongue and not even realizing it until someone told them. However, no one seemed to mind. Harry was a Parselmouth, and he was about as far away from the dark side as you could get, so no one gave the fact that India was a Parselmouth too a second thought. The students of Hogwarts were just beginning to think it was a rare, but not unheard of, trait. Of course, if she had been placed in Slytherin, it would have been a whole other story.

Furthermore, no one except Harry, Ron, Hermione, and a few of the teachers knew Voldemort's real name. This was great because none of India's fellow classmates understood the real reason why Snape had started calling her Riddle every time he addressed her. When Snape had first started calling her this, India had been furious, and had in turn begun calling him Sev. However, somehow the name Riddle was becoming less and less repulsive to her, and she was beginning to realize that just because she shared the same name as her father, it did not make her anything like him. This said, she still wished Snape would call her Miss Foryst, or even just India from time to time.

India snapped out of her reverie and noticed that Ron had not touched his breakfast. The first Quidditch match of the season, Griffindor versus Slytherin, was taking place that very morning, and Ron was even more nervous than he had been before the auditions. "Come on Ron, drink your juice if you're not going to eat anything. You can't play on an empty stomach." Harry told Ron, and India caught a glimpse of a gold vile disappear into the pocket of Harry's robes. Immediately, Hermione, who had also spotted it, turned on Harry. "You put Felix Felicis in his juice! You can't do that, it's cheating! You could be expelled!" Hermione chided him angrily. India tried hard not to laugh as Ron's face suddenly lit up, as he eagerly grabbed his juice. "Don't Ron!" Hermione pleaded, but Ron ignored her and downed his juice in one go. When he had finished, he leaped to his feet, beaming. "I feel amazing! Harry, let's go down to the pitch right now!" Harry and India laughed, while Hermione looked around at them all in disbelief.

After Harry and Ron left the Great Hall, Hermione turned on India. "How could you let Harry do that?" India laughed, "Says the girl who confunded McLaggen." Hermione turned red, "That was different, that was..." "Mmhmm?" India prompted. Hermione let out an exasperated sigh. "It still doesn't mean it's right!" India paused a moment before deciding to tell Hermione the truth. "Harry didn't do anything wrong." India said, smirking at the look of disapproval on Hermione's face. "He didn't actually put the potion in, he just wanted Ron to think he did so that he wouldn't be nervous anymore." Hermione stared at her, "How do you know?" She asked. "Legilimency." India replied simply, and her and Hermione burst out laughing. "And you thought it would be fun to tease me before you told me, did you?" Hermione asked her jokingly. "Who could resist?" India asked, smiling.

As India and Hermione made their way down to the Quidditch pitch half an hour later, they were joined by a girl with blonde hair and Ravenclaw robes, whom Hermione introduced as Luna Lovegood. "Oh, nice to meet you, India." Luna exclaimed in a lilting voice as they shook hands. India looked her over and decided that she liked this eccentric girl, even though she seemed as if she was not completely aware of what was going on around her. "I'm cheering for the Griffindors." Luna announced. "They've always been much nicer to me than the Slytherins." She explained. "Thank you!" India replied, "I'll be sure to cheer for the Ravenclaws then in their match against Hufflepuff. No promises though for the Ravenclaw-Griffindor match." She said, smiling.

India and Hermione parted ways with Luna as they made their way up into the stands to find a seat. The entire school had come out to watch the game, and India was surprised at how much more into school activities people at Hogwarts were than those at Beauxbatons. Half of the time, India had not even bothered to go the Quidditch matches at Beauxbatons, and she had been far from being the only one who opted out. Watching Quidditch was not exactly her favourite activity, but seeing as both Harry and Ron were playing, she felt she needed to encourage them.

Finally, after what seemed like hours to India, the two teams walked out onto the pitch to tumultuous applause. Each player was introduced one by one, and India and Hermione made sure to scream extra loud when Harry and Ron's names were called. As she watched the Snitch be released, India realized she had not heard Draco's name when they had introduced the Slytherin players. From his letters, she knew that he had been the Slytherin seeker since second year. Why then had he not joined the team this year? Of course, she realized with a shiver, he had more important things than Quidditch to do this year. She quickly scanned the stadium for any sign of him, but couldn't see him anywhere. The entire school was out here watching the game, what better opportunity to work in private.

Where did he go when he disappeared from the Marauder's Map? Harry had said that the map showed all the parts of the castle, how could he just suddenly leave the castle? She wondered suddenly if her parents' room was on the map, or if it only showed the rooms and passages the makers of the map had known about. Maybe, if that was the case, Draco went somewhere the makers of the Marauder's Map hadn't known existed! Harry had said that Draco kept disappearing from the third floor, maybe that was where the room was. Her parents' room was on the third floor, could he be going there? India wondered fearfully. No, she reminded herself, only Parselmouths were able to enter.

India wanted terribly to return to the school and find Draco. This was her one chance to find out what Draco's next assassination attempt was and to stop it. She knew it was rude and unsupportive to leave in the middle of her friends' match, especially the first one she had ever been to, but she decided that saving Dumbledore's life was more important. She didn't doubt that her mother and Dumbledore had a plan, and were letting Draco carry on his mission on purpose, but that didn't mean they would be able to block every single one of his attempts at murder. He had nearly killed a student the last time he had tried to kill Dumbledore, who knew what would happen this time.

Mumbling about having to go to the bathroom, India stood up and made her way towards the stairs before Hermione even realized she had gone. She heard Hermione call after her, but ignored it and ran so fast down the stairs she nearly tripped on the last one. She speed-walked towards the front doors, hoping that everyone was too focused on the game to notice her. She wouldn't be able to spend too much time in the castle, otherwise she would have to come up with a better excuse than having to go to the bathroom.

Once inside, she practically ran up the stairs to the third floor, where she leaned against the wall to catch her breath. Slowly, she began walking alongside the wall, feeling and inspecting it for clues as to where this secret room could be. However, she didn't need to look for long. Rounding the first corner she came to, she saw Draco with his back to her, walking back and forth in front of a bare stretch of wall. "_Silencio_", She whispered, and slowly made her way towards him, trying to stay out of sight. _Silencio_ was a spell Snape had taught her that covered up the sounded of her footsteps. As kids, her and Draco had used it all the time to play tricks on her mother.

Suddenly, a large wooden door materialized in front of Draco and he stepped forward to open it. Fearing it would close and disappear again, India ran as fast as she could, and managed to make it through the door before crashing into Draco, knocking him over, and falling on top of him onto the floor inside the room.

"What the hell are you doing!? Draco screamed and pushed her off him and scrambled to his feet. Draco quickly closed the door to block the exit before turning around to point his wand at India, who was still on the ground. "Sonitus" India mumbled, to make her footsteps audible again, and slowly stood up to face him. "So this is where you think of ways to murder Dumbledore?" She asked, rubbing the arm she had fallen on the hardest. Draco's eyes widened in fear. "Who says I'm murdering anyone?" India rolled her eyes, "Katie Bell was bringing Bellatrix's cursed necklace to Dumbledore under the Imperius curse. Seeing as it was hidden in my basement until Bellatrix escaped from Azkaban and stole it back, not many people know it exists. I put two and two together, Draco." She said venomously.

Draco looked even more pale than usual, which was saying something. "Who else knows?" He asked, looking absolutely terrified. "No one." India lied. She had spoken to her mother about the whole incident, and her mother had admitted to knowing all along what Voldemort had told Draco to do. Dumbledore was also aware but had expressly asked her to not let Draco or anyone else know that he was in on the scheme. No further explanations were given, and India had been forced to bite her tongue and not even spill the news to Hermione.

"What? Why didn't you tell anyone?" Draco asked suspiciously. "My mother told me not to. I have no idea why though." India replied, and it was at least half the truth. Draco looked at her curiously. "Did the Dark Lord tell your mother and swear her to secrecy?" "Yes. She wanted to know what was happening, so they made a deal. He told her on the conditions that she not act on this knowledge and that she not share it with anyone else." India lied. "And yet she told you." Draco stated, and India could tell he wasn't completely convinced. "She was allowed to tell me as long as she made me promise to keep it a secret." India replied, hoping desperately that Draco would let the subject drop.

In an attempt to distract him, India turned around and noticed the room she was in for the first time. There were shelves upon shelves covered in objects of all sorts. Hats, books, old wands, broken looking toys, cracked statues, anything and everything you could think of. "What is this place?" She asked, momentarily forgetting why she was there and who she was with. However, Draco quickly brought her back to reality. "You need to leave." He said, glaring at her. India slit her eyes, "I came here to find out what you're up to, and I'm not leaving until I do. So either you can tell me or I am going to look around a bit." India replied in a matter or fact kind of way, that seemed to infuriate Draco as much as she had hoped. He walked towards her with his wand pointed directly at her. "Leave now or I swear I'll use the Cruciatus curse on you." India laughed, "You wouldn't. You're no more a torturer than you are a murderer Draco. You're just a spoiled brat who wants his way, but it's time you grew up and realized that the world doesn't revolve around you!"

Draco's face flushed, and he took a step closer to her. "Don't you want to go watch your precious Potter catch the Snitch?" He taunted. "My precious Potter?" India repeated, laughing. "What, do you think I love him?" Draco smirked, "It's quite cute really. You two always talking in Parselmouth to each other so that no one else can understand, and then pretending you didn't notice. It's kind of funny though, if you think about it. The Dark Lord's daughter and the Chosen One. But how could you not love him? He's perfect Potter after all, isn't he?" Draco said poisonously, and India was reminded of how jealous Draco had always been of Harry. From the moment they had started school together, she had received a never ending stream of letters from him, complaining about Harry. Of course, knowing Draco, she had never taken them seriously.

India rolled her eyes, "I don't love Harry, and I know who he loves, and it's certainly not me." She replied. Draco laughed sharply, "You don't have to hide your true feelings for him from me, we're old friends after all." He replied. India suddenly felt her temper rising and fought to keep her voice even. "You were never my friend. Sure you pretended to be, but all along you were telling your friends at Hogwarts that I was mentally retarded because of my blood status and that the only reason you spent time with me was because I was clingy and madly in love with you and you felt sorry for me! Even after I heard you and Pansy talking about this at the Quidditch world cup, you still refused to admit to it, and told me that I must have misunderstood and that maybe I really was mentally retarded after all! How could I ever trust you again after that?" Unable to hold them back anymore, tears started spilling down India's cheeks and Draco stared at her, too stunned to move. "You were my best friend! Did you ever even think about what it was like for me to lose you? Did you even feel bad about it, or were you just upset that I hated you? You're so incredibly narcissistic, you don't realize how many people you've hurt! All you think about is yourself, all you want is for everyone to worship you, all you care about is being popular and powerful! I hate you so much it drives me crazy! All I've wanted for the past two years is an apology, but if you even do feel guilty, you're too damn proud to say so!"

India pushed past Draco and out into the hall. Through a window, she could see the students making their way back to the castle, and knew the game must be over. However, she was too worked up to care. Still sobbing, she entered the nearest bathroom and leaned against the wall with her face in her hands.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The Truth Comes at a Price

By the time she reached Gryffindor tower, her eyes were dry and her face composed. India was already deeply regretting every single word she had said to Draco; she had embarrassed herself in front of him; something she had promised herself she would never let happen. She had as good as said she missed him, and that was a fact she didn't even want to admit to herself, let alone Draco. Now she had given him the satisfaction of knowing he had hurt her. On top of it all, she had completely forgotten to investigate the room, and now she had no idea of how to get back into it again! How could she have let this happen?

She thought back to what Draco had been saying before she had lost it; about her and Harry being together. Had he really been jealous of them or was she just imagining it? India mentally slapped herself back to reality. Draco was with Pansy, he didn't care about her, he never had. She was just flattering herself and seeing things that weren't there.

Shaking her head as if to clear it of thoughts she didn't want, she entered the Gryffindor common room through the round door behind the portrait of the fat lady, and was thrown right into the middle of the post-game party. Well, I guess Gryffindor won the game. She thought, smiling to herself. She felt guilty about having left the game and searched the room eagerly for a sign of Ron or Harry. Spotting them sitting over by the fire, she made her way slowly across the room, pushing through the crowd of excited students, until she finally managed to reach them.

"Congratulations!" India cried, and gave them each a hug.

"Thanks!" Harry replied, "Hey India, where did you go during the game? Hermione said you left to go to the bathroom, and then never came back."

India bit her lip, wishing she had better cover story.

"My mother needed to speak with me. I'm so sorry I missed the game, I really am, but what my mom had to tell me was extremely important."

Ron looked at her curiously. "Can you tell us what the conversation was about?" He asked.

"I'm sorry, I can't." India replied, hoping desperately that they would let the subject drop. Her wish came true in the form of Lavender Brown, who, out of nowhere, popped up from behind Ron's chair, bent over and began kissing him on the lips. India's mouth dropped open in shock and her and Harry exchanged a look.

"When did _this_ happen?" India asked Harry quietly in Parselmouth, this time using the language on purpose so that Ron would not be able to understand.

"After the game." Harry replied in Parselmouth, "I haven't seen Hermione since they first started snogging."

India stared in horror at the scene in front of her. "Well let's go find her. I don't really feel like watching this anymore." She hissed at Harry.

Once they managed to escape from the packed common room, India checked the girls' dormitories (since boys were not allowed), but finding them empty, her and Harry made their way out of Gryffindor tower to search the rest of the school.

After about half an hour, they found Hermione sitting alone in an unused classroom, with enchanted paper birds flying around her head. It was a moment before she looked up and noticed India and Harry standing in the doorway. India walked over to her and sat down on a chair next to her in silence. Harry followed and did the same, not daring to say a word. Hermione's eyes were red and puffy, and showed that she had recently been crying. For a moment, they all sat there in silence. Well, this has just been a great day, India thought sarcastically.

Just then, a high pitched squealing and laughter broke the silence and made the three of them jump. Ron and Lavender came bounding down the hall and peaked in at them with goofy smiles on their faces. "Oops, I think this room is taken." Lavender said and ran on ahead. Ron, however, hung back and looked nervously at Hermione, attempting to smile. Hermione returned his nervous smile with a glare and sent her birds flying at him like arrows.

"Get out!" Hermione screamed as Ron closed the door in alarm; leaving the birds to hammer against the closed door.

. . . .

India didn't go back to her dormitory that night. Instead, she wished Harry and Hermione goodnight and said she was going to the library to catch up on some overdue homework. However, the place she was really going to was her parents' room.

As she pushed open the trap door of her parents' room, India was pleased to notice that slightly less dust fell on her head this time. However, any dust was too much dust, and she decided that it was time to give the room a proper cleaning and make it livable again.

She began by sucking up all the dust she could find with her wand, and then by cleaning every item and piece of furniture in the room with one of her father's old shirts that she made wet with water from her wand. Next, remembering the spell she had looked up the other day, she fixed the broken clock and set it to the current time. This way, when she spent nights here, she could wake up early and sneak back into her dorm before anyone noticed she was gone.

Finally, she removed some old blankets from the dresser and made herself a proper bed. The couch, she discovered, was actually a pull-out couch, and made a decently comfortable place to sleep. There were even old pillows, stuffed in the bottom drawer of the dresser, that were surprisingly not altogether uncomfortable.

Snuggling into her new bed with her mother's second year diary in hand, she began reading. The last time she had been in this room, she had managed to finish her mother's first year diary. It had been strange to think of her mother as a normal eleven year old child. She had been scared and shy at school, and India had a hard time imagining her mother ever being afraid of anything or anyone. Even more strange was the thought of her father as a child. Sure, if you looked close enough, there were hints of what he would later become; but still, he had only been a child.

Although her mother and father had been in different houses, they had still found an incredible amount of time to spend together. They sat together in every class the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs had together and spent nearly all their free time together. This said, she was too shy to speak to his Slytherin friends, and he was too stuck up to speak to her Hufflepuff friends. Lucius Malfoy, who was friends with Tom, even went so far as to call her a mudblood one day, and Tom hexed him so much he had had to spend an entire week in the hospital wing, recovering. But of course, Tom had wanted to keep up a good reputation, so he had told Lucius that if he ever told anyone that he had hexed him, he would kill him. At the time, Iris had not thought he was serious, but as India read this, knowing what her father had become, she didn't doubt that he would have been capable of murder, even at the age of eleven.

Another one of Tom's Slytherin friends that had a difficult time accepting Iris was Bellatrix Lestrange; at the time, Bellatrix Black. She adored Tom with a passion bordering on obsession and was extremely jealous of Iris. She could not understand what Tom saw in her, and never missed an opportunity to show just how little she liked her. Tom, however, defended Iris relentlessly and was constantly angry with Lucius and Bellatrix about the way they treated her. Reading this, India felt baffled, Lucius was her mother's closest friend in the world, what had happened?

Opening her mother's second year diary, India began to read once more and was swept up in the world of her parents' childhood. She read for hours and hours; from September to October to November to December. Finally, she arrived at Christmas, and was surprised to see that her father had spent the Christmas holidays at her mother's home in the London suburb of Chelsea that year.

_December 24th_

_It's Christmas eve! I'm so excited! Me and Tom got home two days ago and he's been sleeping on my top bunk. Mom, dad and Cory seem to really like him, but I guess that's because he wants them to like him. He's very good at making people like him. Anyway, for Christmas, I got Tom a book on werewolves, my brother Cory a toy train, my mom a blue dress, and my dad a really colorful tie. I hope he wears it to a very serious meeting at work. I baked cookies for my other friends at Hogwarts, but they might be kind of stale by the time we get back. Oh well. _

_I asked Tom if he could teach me Parseltongue and he finally agreed. He's not sure if it's possible, but we're going to try. I really want to learn it! Then I can talk to snakes! I've always wanted to speak to animals, I wish I could talk to my cat. Oh well._

_I'm going to bed now, Tom wants to turn the light out. He's tired. Goodnight!_

So that's when her mother had learned Parseltongue. Up until she had learned the truth about her father, India's mother had told her she had been born a Parselmouth. She also told her that being a Parselmouth was secretly against the law and to not let anyone know she was one. This, of course, was a lie. Her mother had not wanted anyone to realize why India was a Parselmouth and tell her who her father was. She also wanted India to think that she had gotten her ability to speak Parseltongue from her mother, and not from her father, so that she wouldn't connect the dots and realize that Voldemort was the only other known Parselmouth alive.

Thinking back, India realized just how much trouble her mother had gone through to make sure she didn't find out who her father was until she was old enough to be able to deal with it. She had even gone so far as to send her to Beauxbatons against her wishes in order to keep her away from all those who knew the truth or could easily figure it out. Voldemort was a name that kids in the wizarding world grew up terrified of, and India was no exception, despite her mother's best efforts. Her mother had known that to tell her that the monster everyone was scared of was her father could traumatise her for life, so she had done everything in her power to hide the truth from her until she was 16. Now India knew the truth.

India sighed and flipped through the pages of the diary. An old black and white moving photograph fell out. It was of Iris and Tom making faces at the camera. India smiled and put it back and continued reading. It took her a good four hours to finish the diary. By the end, her parents' had discovered the very room she was in right now. As it turned out, the room had actually been Slytherin's, which explained why the password was in Parseltongue. Tom was beginning to suspect he may be related to Slytherin and was burning to find out who his father had been. His father, he was sure, was a wizard. How wrong you were, India thought. She knew how that story ended: with the murder of her grandfather and great grandparents. In a way, India was excited to read her mother's later diaries, but on the other hand, she was terrified of what she might find in them.

However, she decided she had read enough for the night and that she needed at least some sleep if she was going to be able to get up early enough to sneak back into her dormitory. It was already 4:30 am, and she would have to leave by 5:30. Rolling over onto her side, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Hidden motives

There was only a week left before the beginning of Christmas break and school work was even more of an unwelcome task than it normally was. However, the Great Hall was looking beautiful. A dozen Christmas trees lined the walls and snow seemed to fall from the ceiling; disappearing just before it touched their heads. Although it was cold outside, Hogwarts had never been warmer, and India felt a surge of happiness every time she thought of the upcoming holiday.

This said, Snape had given her detention nearly every day up until the end of Christmas break. Every day, she would have to spend an hour of her day in his office, while everyone else was relaxing and having a good time. She almost wanted to leave just so that she could have a break from having to deal with Snape. However, her mother was a teacher and couldn't leave and...she wasn't about to go spend Christmas with her father.

Up until fourth year, when she had stubbornly refused to go, Christmas had always been at the Malfoy's. She and her mother had gone over on Christmas eve, and left on Boxing day, spending Christmas day in their big white mansion that was always covered in snow at that time of year. The past couple of years, however, they had gone to the Tonks' home instead, and her mother had simply dropped by the Malfoy's for a few hours on Christmas day, to say hi. As much as she tried to deny it, India missed Draco's spacious living room, decorated with a huge Christmas tree, the wonderful food the poor house elves prepared, the view out of Draco's bedroom window that overlooked the lawn below, and the many beautiful candles Narcissa always put up around the house. But that was all over now, India reminded herself. This Christmas, Lucius would be in Azkaban, Draco would be at school thinking up ways to murder the headmaster, and Narcissa would be all alone with the house elves in the cold marble mansion. Her father was just as cruel to his allies as he was to his enemies.

"India!" Ron called, pulling her out of her reverie. She was sitting in the common room in front of the fire with Ron and Harry, Hermione having disappeared to the library for the time being.

"My mom said it's alright if you come spend Christmas at our house. Harry and Hermione are coming, do you want to come too?"

India beamed with gratitude. "I'd love to!" She cried, "If I stay here, I'll have detention every day of the holiday!"

Ron and Harry laughed, "Well, your welcome." Ron said. "My house is not much, but-"

"It's amazing." Harry said, cutting him off, and Ron smiled appreciatively at him.

India laughed, "I'll see you later, I'm going to go visit Hermione at the library. I've still got to do the essay Snape gave us last class." She complained.

"Wait, before you go", Harry said suddenly, "Slughorn's throwing a Christmas party Friday night and he said we can invite dates who aren't in the Slug Club. Would you want to go with me? As friends, obviously."

India had completely forgotten about this party, having not been invited to join the Slug Club. Although she was a rival to Hermione in terms of academic success, Slughorn had taught both her mother and father, and therefore knew who she was. Her mother had told her the Death Eaters had tried to recruit him and that he wanted to stay as far away as possible from anyone associated with them. Therefore, he barely looked at her in class and avoided speaking to her as much as possible, which India found incredibly annoying and insulting.

"I wish I could!" India replied, "I have detention with Snape though." She said morosely.

"That git!" Harry exclaimed, "Who else can I ask?"

"Hmmm", India thought, "What about Luna?" She suggested.

Harry's face lit up, "Good idea. I'll ask Luna."

India smiled, "Who's Hermione going with?" She asked, immediately regretting the question when she saw the look on Ron's face.

"Cormac McLaggen." Harry answered, trying not to smile.

"What!? The toad?" She cried, "Why?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders, Ron suddenly became very interested in the fabric of his chair, and India mentally slapped herself for not realizing what was happening sooner. Hermione was taking McLaggen to get back at Ron for dating Lavender. India rolled her eyes, for such a brilliant person, Hermione could be so stupid sometimes.

. . . . . .

"You're late." India said coldly, as Snape slowly walked towards her.

"Sorry to disappoint you, my _Lady_." Snape sneered and walked past her to unlock the door to his office.

"What were you doing?" India questioned.

"Well", Snape answered slowly, "your little friend, Malfoy, snuck into the party and I had to give him a lecture on the importance of _not being caught_." Snape said, emphasizing the last three words.

"Right, because you'd know all about not being caught." India replied.

Snape gave her an icy look. "Well", he said, "I'm either fooling both your mother and Dumbledore or your father. To trick any of them is an extraordinary accomplishment."

India laughed coldly, "Dumbledore and my mother are biased, they love you. My father, on the other hand-"

"Is too arrogant to believe anyone could trick him." Snape finished, cutting her off.

India looked at him in surprise. "I wouldn't let him hear you say something like that." She said, half-smiling, despite herself, at the insult to the father she hated.

"Alright, get to work, I want the top shelf of my bookcase cleaned today." Snape said suddenly, changing the subject and sitting himself down at his desk.

India sighed. She would need to use the step-ladder again. She was certain Snape had saved the top shelf for tonight, just to rub in the fact that she was stuck in detention while her friends were having fun at Slughorn's party. Hatred boiling up inside her chest, she took the step-ladder out of the closest and climbed up, dipping the rags Snape had given her into a bucket of water.

The top shelf was the dustiest one yet. It looked as if it had not been touched in decades. Grimacing, she began by removing the many cobwebs with a wet rag, which she then tossed on the floor, not wanting to use it to clean the rest of the bookshelf and get everything covered in cobwebs. She then began removing the old books, one by one; cleaning, and then drying, their covers to remove the dust.

It was boring work, and after half an hour or so she began peaking at the books she picked up in an attempt to entertain herself. They seemed to be, for the most part, Snape's old school books, and not even remotely interesting. Just then, while she was cleaning a particularly tattered old textbook, an old moving photograph fell out into her hand. She stared at the picture and immediately recognized an 11 or 12 year old Snape standing with a pretty girl with red hair and almond eyes. She stared at the girl, for some reason she seemed familiar, but she just couldn't put figure out why.

Curious, India flipped through the book and found a few more photographs of the same red-haired girl and a couple letters written in neat curly handwriting.

_Dear Sev,_

_We're having a great time in Spain, even though we got lost a few times because we couldn't speak Spanish. We should be back next Thursday-_

India skipped to the bottom of the letter.

_See you soon,_

_Lily Potter_

India nearly dropped the book in shock. She inhaled sharply and Snape lifted his head to look at her. Noticing what she was holding, his face turned redder than she had ever seen it before.

"What do you think you're doing, you nosy little snake!" He cried, standing up suddenly, glaring at her. India couldn't bring herself to form any words, all she managed to do was stare at him. Fear was coursing through her veins. She had never seen Snape so mad.

"Listen-" She finally managed to say, but she was cut off by Snape, who, reaching into his robes, pulled out his wand and screamed, "_Crucio!_"

India's body felt like it was on fire. Unable to stand up anymore, she crumpled over in pain, falling backwards off the step-ladder. The pain disappeared just before her head hit the floor and everything went black.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Medicine and lies

When India woke up, the very first thought that crossed her mind was "I'm dead". She was unable to open her eyes or move any part of her body. Her head was throbbing painfully, but she couldn't lift a hand to rub it. Completely paralyzed and in the dark, she began to panic. She wanted to scream out, but her mouth wouldn't open, and she felt her breath and heartbeat begin to race. Wait. Her heart was beating and she was breathing, she couldn't be dead.

Just then she heard her mother's voice, and all her fears were silenced instantly.

"She's fine, Severus, she's just in a coma. She should wake up in a few days." Her mother said calmly, and India heard two pairs of footsteps approaching her. She figured she must be lying on a bed in the hospital wing.

She felt her mother's cool hand touch her forehead at the same time as she heard Snape speak in a shaky voice.

"I'm so sorry Iris, I don't know what came over me, I just...lost it. I didn't mean to hurt her, I-"

"It's alright." Iris said gently, and India felt her mother remove her hand from her forehead and heard her walk towards Snape.

"Can she hear us?" Snape asked Iris quietly.

"No, she's unconscious." Iris replied, and India was almost certain she was lying. She had felt her mother use legilimency on her just a minute ago; she knew her mother knew she was conscious.

India heard footsteps approach her bed, and felt a hand that did not belong to her mother brush her forehead, and then gently take hold of her right hand. India wanted desperately to tell him it was alright. That she understood everything now, and that she was sorry. The moment she had read Lily Potter's letter, she had realized what it was that made her mother and Dumbledore so willing to trust him. He had loved a Muggle Born, and she had been killed by Voldemort. Her mother had always said she had a reason to trust him, now she knew what that reason was. Of course, she could be jumping to conclusions, but Snape's reaction when he saw her holding the letter and pictures had confirmed her theory. How could it be anything else?

Snape wasn't on her father's side after all. She had spent the last five months treating him like dirt, when all along he had been risking his life to help bring down Voldemort. She felt guilt slowly eat her up from the inside, and wished desperately that Snape would attempt legilimency on her so that he could see just how sorry she was, but he never did. She knew she could try it on him, but a part of her was too frightened to do so. Would he accept her apology or would he make her pay for the way she had treated him?

After a moment, Snape let go of her hand, bent down to kiss her forehead, and then India heard his footsteps moving farther and farther away from her bedside. Finally, she heard the door to the hospital wing open and close behind him. India felt like crying, but was unable to produce a single tear. She had pushed away the closest thing to a father she had ever known all because of some stupid assumption, and now he might never forgive her.

Her mother came and sat down next to her bed and gently rubbed her hand.

"I know you can hear me, sweetheart." Her mother said softly in Parseltongue.

"Your skull is broken, and the damage the fall did to your brain has paralyzed your entire body, but you should begin to regain movement in a few days. There won't be any lasting consequences."

Iris paused for a moment, and then continued.

"You're right about Severus and Lily." She said simply, "He doesn't blame you for reading the letter, he's just scared. Admitting you love someone is opening yourself up to rejection." Iris continued.

"Severus loves you like a daughter, everything will work out eventually." Iris assured her, but India had a hard time believing her. Her mother was an optimist; India was a realist. Or at least she thought she was.

Just then, India heard the doors to the hospital ward swing open once again, and felt relieved to hear Harry and Hermione's voices.

"India! What happened!?" Hermione cried, running towards her bed.

"Is she going to be alright?" Harry asked frantically.

Iris stood up and India heard her reassure her panicked friends.

"She's fine. She fell off of the step-ladder while cleaning Snape's top shelf and hit her head. She's unconscious right now, but she'll wake up in a few days."

Hermione picked up India's hand and rubbed it the way her mother had, just a minute ago.

"Harry, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to Ron's with you tomorrow. Someone needs to be here when she wakes up. What a terrible time to have an accident!" Hermione said.

"I'll stay too." Harry replied.

"No, you and Ron should go. I think she would feel guilty if we all stayed because of her."

Harry didn't respond, and India wondered whether he was nodding or shaking his head, shrugging his shoulders, or doing some other wordless gesture. She wished she could see.

The next few days were going to be very boring, India thought. She would have nothing to entertain herself with except her own thoughts, and given the present circumstances, her thoughts weren't exactly the most enjoyable.

Hermione and Harry stayed for what India thought must be about half an hour, and then Ron joined them for another fifteen minutes or so. Finally, Iris suggested that they all get some sleep, seeing as it was nearly midnight, and they left; leaving India in darkness and silence. Every now and then, she would hear her mother moving around, or feel her open up her mouth and pour in some liquid, forcing her to swallow it with magic. Whatever medication her mother was giving her tasted awful, but it somewhat helped to ease the pain in her head.

A few hours later, she heard her mother lay down on the empty bed next to her and begin singing. She sang an old lullaby in Parseltongue that she had sung to India as a baby. Where it had come from and whether it had originally been written in Parseltongue, India had no idea, but she loved it regardless. Finally feeling somewhat relaxed, she slowly drifted off to sleep.

. . . . .

The next few days were spent listening to every sound she could pick out. Harry, Ron, and Hermione visited her once more before Harry and Ron left for the Burrow, and then it was just Hermione who came to visit her. Lavender, Parvati and Neville had stopped by once on the second day she had been in the hospital, but then they had all left school for Christmas break too. Snape had not returned either, although her mother assured her that he asked frequently how she was doing.

Finally, on the fourth day of her hospitalization, India woke up to bright winter sunlight shining in through her eyelids, and attempting once more to open her eyes, managed to catch a glimpse of the hospital wing before having to close them again because of the brightness. After spending days in the dark, her eyes were not accustomed to daylight, and it took her a good five minutes before her eyes were able to adjust to the light. Excited at being able to see again, she tried to speak, and after a few tries, managed to let out a quiet moan. Hearing her, her mother walked over to bed and bent down to kiss her forehead.

"How are you feeling?" She asked her daughter, smiling brightly.

"Better." India managed to say hoarsely.

"Can you move your head?" Her mother enquired.

India tried, but was unable to.

"No." She replied.

"Soon." Her mother assured her. "I'm going to go get some breakfast, I'll be back in about half an hour."

Iris had not been gone for five minutes when the doors to the hospital wing opened once more and India looked over to see the last person she ever thought she'd see come visit her. Draco Malfoy stopped short when he realized that her eyes were open and that she was most definitely conscious. India stared at him in surprise as he slowly made his way towards her, nervously looking left and right to make sure they were alone.

"I thought you were supposed to be in a coma." Draco said, almost accusatorily.

"Sorry to disappoint you." India replied icily, glaring at him as he sat down on the chair next to her bed. Draco looked even more pale than usual and he looked as if he hadn't slept in days.

"You look terrible." She said finally, when Draco didn't respond.

"Have _you_ looked in a mirror lately?" Draco retorted.

"I haven't been able to look at anything lately." India replied. "What the hell are you doing here anyway?" She asked coldly.

Draco raised an eyebrow and tried his best to pull off his usual arrogant smirk. "Don't flatter yourself India. I didn't come to visit you, I came to ask your mother a question." He drawled, and India wished she had the use of her arms so that she could punch him.

"I never said anything about you coming to visit me. You're just so self absorbed that you automatically assumed I would want you to come visit me. Believe me, I never expected nor wanted to see you walk through that door." She said poisonously.

Draco's face became slightly less pale as he stood up abruptly. "So where is your mother then?" He asked, changing the subject.

"The Great Hall, eating breakfast." India replied curtly, refusing to look at him.

Draco turned on his heels and walked towards the doors. With his hand on the handle, he turned back and looked at her for a moment before speaking.

"You're going to get your wish, you know." He said, his face unreadable. "He's going to kill me."

India stared after him in shock as Draco exited the hospital wing and closed the door behind him.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Christmas, House Elves, and Red Earrings

India was released from the hospital wing the day before Christmas eve, but on Christmas morning, her head was still throbbing painfully. However, the pain did little to dampen her spirits. India had always loved Christmas more than any other time of year, and this year was no exception.

Her and Hermione were the only two left in the sixth year girl's dormitory and they had their own little Christmas celebration before going down to the Great Hall for breakfast. They sat on their beds in their pyjamas, and took turns opening up the presents piled at their feet.

"Oh look at these earrings! They're beautiful!" India exclaimed, holding up a pair of red earrings for Hermione to see.

"They are beautiful! Who sent them?" Hermione asked.

India searched the wrapping paper for a card or tag, but found none.

"I have no idea." She said, puzzled.

Standing up, she walked over to the mirror and pushed back her messy hair to put in her new earrings. She stood a moment, looking at the earrings dangling from her ears and suddenly, she knew who exactly who had sent them. Feeling an aching sadness fill her up, she turned away from the mirror to find Hermione already absorbed in her latest present.

"Look at what Harry bought me!" She cried, holding up an enormous sized book.

"_A History of House Elves." _India read.

"That looks amazing!" India said, as her and Hermione flipped through the pages, glancing at the photos and names of chapters.

Opening her next present, India laughed out loud to find three pairs of mismatched socks of all different sizes and a large piece of paper that said _To Miss India Foryst, From Dobby_.

"Speaking of house elves." India said, holding up the socks.

"You know Dobby?" Hermione asked incredulously.

India gave her a withering look, "How could I not." She said, laughing bitterly.

Cheering up, she smiled and put on two of the less brightly colored socks.

"I love Dobby." She said, beaming, "He was never like the other house elves at Malfoy Manor. They lived to serve the family, but Dobby had his own mind. Lucius never beat him when my mom was over, but he did once when it was just me, so I smashed his grandfather's valuable vase. Draco thought it was hilarious, but his father nearly banned me from ever coming back." She said in a somewhat matter of fact tone, causing Hermione to look at her strangely. There was a slight pause.

"Did you know he's here, working in the kitchens?" Hermione asked suddenly.

"What!? Dobby's at Hogwarts!?" India asked, suddenly excited.

"Yes, Harry never mentioned it? He's been to visit a few times, I think you were out though, the library or...anyway you were out." Hermione finished, making India wonder if Hermione had any idea of where she went when she disappeared for the night.

"Well I have to go visit him then! Do you mind going down after breakfast?" India asked Hermione.

"Sure." Hermione said, smiling.

. . . . .

India and Hermione had not been at the breakfast table for more than five minutes before Iris Foryst came up behind India and gave her a warm hug.

"Happy Christmas!" She cried, as India turned around to hug her properly.

"Happy Christmas, mom!" India replied, kissing her mother on the cheek.

"Happy Christmas, Professor Foryst." Hermione said, smiling up at India's mother.

"India," Iris said, changing the subject, "I'm going to see Cissy today, and then we're going to Azkaban to visit Lucius. Have you seen Draco anywhere? I've been looking for him for the past half-hour, but I can't find him anywhere. If you see him, can you tell him I'm leaving around 11 am and ask him if he wants to come? Dumbledore's given it the ok, although I doubt Draco would care whether he was allowed or not."

"Have you checked his secret room?" India asked her mother in Parseltongue, so that Hermione would not understand. Hermione, realizing this, raised her eyebrows, but said nothing.

"Yes, no luck." Iris responded in English. "Well, if you find him, let him know. I'm going to go get some breakfast, see you later."

With that, Iris was off to join the other teachers at the Great Table, and India and Hermione were left alone.

"So what is it I'm not supposed to know?" Hermione asked, as soon as Iris was out of earshot.

"Well you're not supposed to know, so I can't tell you." India replied, unable to stop herself from smiling. Hermione laughed.

"Alright, so I'll just trust Voldemort's wife and daughter to take care of everything." Hermione said, jokingly.

"I wouldn't, if I were you." Said a cold and mocking voice from behind India.

India whipped around to find Severus Snape standing behind her, a sarcastic smile playing about his lips.

"Well Miss Riddle, it seems I can't put you in detention on Christmas, so you will just have to do another hour of detention another day." Snape said.

"_Or_, I could _voluntarily_ come clean your office today, and then you could _voluntarily_ remove one of my detentions." India proposed, smirking up at him with much less malice than before.

"That could be arranged." Snape responded, smiling slightly.

"Why thank you Professor Snape." India said, "Normal time?"

"Yes, and don't be late." He warned.

"Same goes for you." India countered.

As Snape walked away to join the teacher's table, Hermione turned once again towards India.

"What was all that about? You two are friends now?" Hermione asked perplexed.

"Yes, the damage the fall did to my brain was extensive. I now make poor life choices and lack judgement of character." India replied, smirking at the look of confusion on Hermione's face.

"Listen. Do not repeat this to anyone. Not even Ron or Harry." India said seriously, deciding it was alright to tell Hermione at least this much.

"I fell and hit my head because Snape used the Cruciatus curse on me while I was standing on the step-ladder." Hermione's eyes widened in horror, but India continued before she could open her mouth to say anything.

"He used that curse on me because I found something he didn't want me to find. I can't tell you what it is, because that would just be mean, but I can tell you that it's proof he's on our side, not Voldemort's. It the same proof my mother and Dumbledore have. It's the reason they trust him. Snape may be many things, but he's no Death Eater, and I have been treating him like one for the past five months. It's time to make up for it." India finished, not daring to look Hermione in the eye.

Hermione mulled this information over for a minute before responding.

"You might want to hear a story before you trust him completely." Hermione said tentatively.

"We haven't had the chance to tell you yet because you've been in the hospital, but the night you fell, Harry overheard a conversation between Snape and Malfoy. Snape said that he had made an unbreakable vow to Malfoy's mother that he would protect him and complete the task Voldemort had given him if Malfoy was unable to do it." Hermione paused.

"Did you know Malfoy was a Death Eater all along?" Hermione asked her quietly.

"Yes." India replied, not looking up. "I was sworn to secrecy by Dumbledore himself, and of course my mother, but I have no idea why they didn't want the information getting around. As for Snape," she continued, "He is protecting Malfoy on Dumbledore's orders. That's all I know."

"So you still think he's on our side?" Hermione asked.

"I'm certain." India replied, looking her in the eyes to show that she meant what she said.

"Alright." Hermione said, "I believe you then. Good luck convincing Harry though." She said chuckling.

"This conversation stays between us, ok? Harry knows nothing." India said seriously.

"If you say so." Hermione replied, unsure whether she agreed or not with all the secrecy.

They finished their breakfast in silence, both deep in thought about what could or could not be going on. Finally, India pushed back her plate.

"I'm full, as soon as you're done, we can go down to the kitchens." She said.

"I'm done." Hermione replied, standing up. "Let's go now."

India and Hermione made their way down to the kitchens in silence. When they reached the door to the kitchens, India stepped forward to pull open it and ran right into Draco Malfoy, who had just been about to push open the door.

"What are you doing here?" India exclaimed, surprise written all over her face. Draco thought house elves were stupid, ugly creatures, and India could not see him coming down to visit them for fun. He must have some other reason, she thought.

"Nothing you need to know about." He said testily, and attempted to push his way past India and Hermione. India however, grabbed his arm.

"Wait, mom's looking for you. She's going to your place at 11 and wants to know if you want to go with her. Her and your mom are going to Azkaban after to visit your dad." India said hurriedly.

Draco looked at her in surprise. "Your mom can't go to Azkaban!" He pointed out.

"Well I doubt she'll be going _in_, she'll probably just wait at the entrance or something." India explained impatiently.

"Anyway, mom's in the Great Hall eating breakfast, go find her." India finished and turned away to enter the kitchens.

This time it was Draco who stopped her. "Nice earrings." He said, his face unreadable.

India felt tears springing to her eyes and fought to keep her voice even.

"Happy Christmas, Draco." She said quietly, turning her back on him to hide her face.

Draco left, and Hermione was left in confusion for the third time that day.

"_Draco_ gave you those earrings!?" She asked incredulously.

India nodded silently, not looking at her.

"And why can't your mother go to Azkaban?" Hermione asked.

"She's not afraid of anything. The last time she went, all the Dementors ran away and there was nearly a massive jail break. She's like a living patronus." India explained.

Before Hermione could respond to this new piece of strange information, Dobby came running towards India, seemingly out of nowhere and wrapped his skinny arms around her tightly. India bent down to hug the little house elf, smiling into Dobby's large saucer-sized eyes.

"You came to visit Dobby!" Dobby exclaimed, and then letting go of India, he ran towards Hermione and wrapped his arms around her. "Hermione came too!" Dobby squealed excitedly.

The other house elves looked up from their dishes to see what all the commotion was, and at once, a couple of them left their posts to come offer India and Hermione some tea.

"No thanks", Hermione said kindly, "We just ate. It's very nice of you to offer it though. We appreciate it." The house elves looked slightly disappointed, but returned to their dishes. Dobby led India and Hermione over to a table, and as they sat down, India caught sight of a house elf rocking back and forth in front of the fireplace, clutching a bottle of Firewhisky.

"Is that Winky?" India asked Dobby quietly.

"Yes." Dobby replied sadly, "Winky misses her master, Winky won't work anymore, Winky just drinks now."

Hermione stood up and walked over to Winky.

"Hey, how are you, Winky?" She asked gently, kneeling down in front of the house elf. Winky didn't respond and just continued to keep rocking back and forth, cradling her bottle.

India walked over and knelt down beside Winky and Hermione.

"Winky, I'm going to tell my mother to come visit you. She was friends with your master." India said.

Winky lifted her head slightly and looked at India suspiciously.

"My master didn't have friends."

"Alright, well maybe friends isn't the right word." India amended, "Is acquaintance better?" She asked the house elf.

Winky simply continued to rock back and forth and refused to respond. Well, thought India, I tried. Standing up, she returned to the table with Dobby, leaving Hermione alone with Winky.

"Dobby, what was Draco doing here?" India whispered, hoping that Hermione would not hear her.

Dobby shook his head, "Dobby can't say, Miss. Dobby wants to say, but Dobby can't, Miss."

"Why not?" India asked sharply.

"Dumbledore says not to tell anyone any secrets about the Malfoy boy. Dobby is sorry, India!" Dobby said, looking worried that she would be mad.

India however, assured him it was fine. "It's ok, Dobby, I understand. You can't say."

Dobby looked slightly less distraught, and soon they fell to talking about other more pleasant things. India realized she had missed Dobby more than she had thought, and was caught up in a sudden feeling of nostalgia for the many days of her childhood she had spent at Malfoy Manor; back when she had had no idea of who she, nor the family she loved, really was.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The marriage of Tom Marvolo Riddle

India spent the rest of her Christmas holiday studying, going on walks with Hermione, doing detention with Snape, and reading her mother's diaries. She was even beginning to look forward to her detentions ever since she had decided she didn't hate Snape that much after all. India had not realized how much she had missed talking to him, and was determined to make up for lost time. Soon, they fell back into their old routine of teasing each other in an amiable way, very unlike the insults they had been throwing at each other for the past few months.

Another activity she could not seem to get enough of was reading her mother's diaries. She snuck out of bed nearly every night to go down to her parents' room, seeing as it was easier to do now that it was only her and Hermione in the dormitory. This said, she was quite certain Hermione knew she was sneaking out, but she never mentioned it, and India was grateful.

Since the beginning of the holidays, India had read through her mother's third, fourth, and most of her fifth year diaries. Her mother's childish and messy handwriting had turned into a beautiful print, and her diaries were getting both longer and more interesting by the year. By the end of her mother's fifth year, her parents communicated almost solely in Parseltongue. Sometimes, they didn't even need to use words, having both mastered legilimency.

Tom Riddle had been searching high and low for evidence that his father had attended Hogwarts, but having found none, he was now beginning to question whether Iris's theory might actually be correct. Perhaps his mother, who had died in childbirth, had been the witch. Tom had automatically assumed his father had been the wizard because if his mother had been a witch, she would have been able to have saved herself after giving birth to him. Now, he was beginning to wonder if his mother had purposely chosen not to save herself, and if so why?

It was during their fifth year that Tom finally found solid proof, through the use of his maternal grandfather's name, Marvolo, that he was in fact the descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and that his mother had been the magical one. Reeling under the shock of discovering that his mother had quite literally abandoned him by not attempting to save herself, he seemed to Iris to be slowly losing his mind. Although, of course, to the rest of the world, he was still the model student, the prefect, and the genius. Iris was becoming afraid, not so much of him, but of what she knew he was capable of. She knew he was incapable of remorse and that he had absolutely no problem hurting people, seeing as he never bothered to hide any of his thoughts from her. She also knew he was furious; a bad combination.

India spent the night before Harry, Ron came back, in her parents' room, attempting to finish her mother's fifth year diary. Around two in the morning, she realized she only had about ten more pages left, when she came across something that made it impossible for her to sleep.

_May 21st_

_I have no idea what to do. Tom is starting to terrify me with the things he says. Today he told me about these things called Horcruxes: objects that contain parts of your soul. Lately he's been obsessed with immortality (not that he hasn't always been-it's just worse now), and he's been looking up ways to escape death. By putting a piece of your soul in a Horcrux, you will not die even if your body dies. In order to split your soul in two, you need to murder someone! I am scared he's really thinking seriously about making a Horcrux, or more than one Horcrux even. Our room is covered with old books on dark magic from the restricted section of the library, and Tom has been devouring them for the past couple weeks. The most unnerving thing is that no one else seems to notice that he's changed, he's such a good actor, they all have no idea what he's really like._

India felt her fifteen year old mother's fear tighten her own chest as she wondered whether Voldemort had actually made Horcruxes. If he had, did that make him immortal? Or could the Horcruxes themselves be killed? Engrossed by the horror of what she was reading, India finished the diary in under ten minutes, and couldn't resist beginning the sixth year one.

_September 1st_

_I am writing this on the Hogwarts Express, leaning against Tom. We have the compartment all to ourselves, which is good because I don't think I could stand talking to someone else right now. I feel numb, I can't cry anymore, I must have run out of tears. Tom is playing with my hair, trying to comfort me, but it's no use. Here is my own personal horror story:_

_Yesterday, my parents dropped me off at Tom's orphanage, with the understanding that we would go to Kings Cross the next day to catch the train to Hogwarts. I had specifically asked to be brought into London a day earlier because Tom had found out where his maternal grandfather lived. We were going to go visit him to ask if he knew anything about the whereabouts of Tom's father, or even if he knew why his mother had as good as committed suicide._

_Marvolo lived in the small town of Little Hangleton, a short train ride away from London. A small __overgrown path in the forest surrounding the town led to a tiny falling down shack in a small clearing. I was about to step out into the clearing when Tom pulled me back, pointed his wand at me, and whispered, "Incognitus". I looked down at my hands and saw only air. _

_"You want to go alone?" I asked. Tom nodded, kissed me on the forehead, and told me urgently to stay where I was no matter what happened. _

_"I can't promise that." I whispered back, but he ignored me and walked out into the clearing._

_"Who's there?" I heard an old man cry, and a moment later the man had opened the old door to his shack and was staring at Tom with an expression of deep disgust.__"My name is Tom Marvolo Riddle." Tom said calmly in Parseltongue, and I felt a shiver go down my spine. Tom is at his most dangerous when he's calm._

_"You speak it?" The old man asked in Parseltongue._

_"Yes I speak it." Tom replied irritably._

_"Oh you're the _son_ of Tom Riddle! I thought you was him for a minute, but then he's older than you, now that I think of it." the man said._

_"Are you Marvolo Riddle?" Tom asked._

_"No, I'm Morfin, his son. Marvolo's been dead many years now." Morfin answered._

_"Do you know my father?" Tom asked, although I knew he already knew the answer._

_"Yes, stupid Muggle he is too. Your mother run off with him, and then he done left her pregnant and starving. Serves her right for marrying Muggle filth." Morfin hissed._

_"Well where is he?" Tom demanded, his temper rising._

_"In the big house at the top of the hill. Now-" Morfin's voice was cut off my Tom's curse. Tom stunned his wordlessly, and turning around, looked back in my direction._

_His face was redder than I'd ever seen it, and I squeezed my hands to stop them from shaking. Stepping out from my hiding place, I pointed my wand at myself and made myself visible again before running towards him. We hugged each other tightly for a minute, and I didn't even need to use legilimency to know what he was planning. It wasn't as if I hadn't expected it. I knew it was only a matter of time before he found and killed him, but in that moment the reality sank in. This was it. The time he had been planning for months now, and I was going to witness it. There was nothing I could do to stop him. Nothing I could say made any difference, he was determined to split his soul with the murder of his father._

_Tears started sliding down my face, and I buried my face in his neck. I will miss you, I thought, opening my mind to let him read it. After a moment, Tom bent to remove the ring on Morfin's finger and gently placed it in my hand. _

_"This ring will be my Horcrux. I will give it to you to keep." Tom hissed._

_"It will never leave my finger." I hissed back, crying._

_After that, we walked in silence, hand in hand to his father's house. He made me invisible so that there was no chance of me getting wrapped up in his crime, even if he was caught. We climbed the steps of his father's giant mansion, and Tom opened the unlocked door quietly. There were voices coming from the next room and as we rounded the corner, we found an older version of Tom sitting at a long dinning room table, next to an old man and woman we assumed were Tom's grandparents. They looked up in surprise as Tom entered the room and I'm sure they recognized him instantly. __Tom walked forwards, letting go of my hand, and addressed them._

_"Do you know who I am?" He asked calmly. _

_"How did you find me?" Tom's father asked, avoiding the question._

_"I asked you a question." Tom said, a hint of rage coming into his voice. "Do you know who I am?"_

_"Yes." Replied his father, finally meeting his eyes._

_"Are you aware then, that you not only abandoned my mother, but also your own son!?" Tom asked angrily._

_"The ugly wretch wasn't even human! She bewitched me into loving her, can you really blame me for leaving the freak!?" His father answered defensively._

_"What you call a freak, I call a witch, and a pureblood at that. Your kind is so pathetically narrow minded and ignorant." Tom spat, walking forward to point his wand at his father's face._

_"I am going to kill you." He announced, beginning to smile. _

_"I am going to kill you, and your parents too. Do you regret it now? Leaving me to grow up alone in an orphanage?" Tom was laughing now, and I gripped onto the small coffee table behind me to keep from falling over. Tom's father was staring at Tom's wand, wide-eyed and terrified, when Tom's grandmother tried to stand up._

_"Avada Kedavra!" Tom cried, turning suddenly to point his wand at his grandmother. The old woman fell back down into her chair, in a flash of green light; her upper body collapsing onto the table._

_"Is there anyone else who would like to leave!?" Tom shouted, looking back and forth from his father to his grandfather. _

_"You sure did a great job raising a child." Tom said sarcastically, turning his attention to his grandfather, who was staring in shock at his dead wife._

_"Look at me." Tom demanded, and his grandfather reluctantly pried his gaze away from his wife and towards Tom's furious face._

_"Avada Kedavra!" Tom cried, and his grandfather collapsed onto the table in a flash of green light. Turning to his father, he walked forward and pointed his wand right into his face._

_"Goodbye Muggle." He whispered in Parseltongue before screaming, __"Avada Kedavra!" _

_Tom stared at his dead father, and then suddenly cried out in pain, crumpling to the ground. I quickly made myself visible and ran towards him, kneeling down next to him. He clutched at my arm as his face contorted in pain, and I pulled him into me as something that sort of looked like a ghost, came out of his body and stood floating in the air above us. _

_The apparition looked exactly like Tom, but deathly pale and colorless. I pulled Marvolo's ring out of my pocket and held it up. The part of Tom's soul which had separated from his body latched onto the ring and entered it in a split second, and I felt the ring grow hot for a second before it returned to its normal temperature. __Tom was breathing raggedly, but it seemed as if the pain were decreasing. He managed to sit up, leaning against me, and lifted a hand to take the ring from me. _

_"Do you, Iris Foryst, take this man to be your lawful wedded husband?" He choked in Parseltongue, barely able to speak._

_"I do." I replied quietly in Parseltongue._

_"And do you, Tom Marvolo Riddle, take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife?" I asked, my eyes brimming with tears._

_"I do." He breathed, and slid the ring onto the ring finger of my left hand._

_Unable to hold them back any more, the tears started spilling from my cheeks. Tom took my hand and we half crawled, half dragged ourselves over to the wall where we sat, leaning against it. Tom wrapped his arms around me and I cried for hours on end. Thinking back, we really took our chances, staying in that house as long as we did, but in the moment, we were both too overcome with pain to think straight. By the time we left, it was dark outside and we had to call the Night Bus to come pick us up since the last train had already left for the evening. We didn't talk for the entire way back to London, and, arriving at the orphanage, we simply crawled into bed and lay there in each other's arms, unable to sleep, but unable to talk._

_The next morning, we boarded the train in a daze, having barely slept at all the night before. Now, here we are in our compartment, still silent. We don't need to talk to understand each other, sometimes words just get in the way. The Horcrux on my finger makes me feel every single emotion Tom is feeling, and it is tiring me out. I'm not scared anymore, I'm depressed. I made my resolution this summer and I am going to stick to it, no matter how hard. To be able to stay with Tom for the rest of my life, despite everything I know he is going to do, and who he is going to become, I need to make myself perfect. I cannot feel fear, anger, jealousy, pride, remorse or anything else of that sort, and I need to make this happen soon. Otherwise I will go insane. _

_I will succeed, I know I will._

_ I won't leave him._

India closed the book slowly, unable to read anymore. Her mother was insane, completely and utterly insane. She had always known it, and yet her mother was incapable of hurting a fly. She was the definition of perfect, and yet she could stand by and watch Voldemort murder and not feel a single pang of remorse. India shivered, unable to understand.

Her mother had told her often that all anyone wanted was the good of the world. She had told her everyone wanted to contribute to making the world a better place, but when they began to believe they weren't good enough, they began to hurt themselves and lash out at those around them. India interpreted this by saying that people want to be loved, and when they're not, they get mad. Perhaps it was a simplistic version of what her mother had tried to tell her, but India found it more accurate than saying that everything everyone does comes from love. As far as she was concerned, that was a fantasy concocted by her mother to justify her father's behavior.

India had never understood her mother, and though she trusted her and admired her, she was also slightly scared of her. Her mother made no distinction between good and evil, and she had no goals or objectives. She lived day by day, without pride or vanity, her only motive being the well-being of those around her. This altruism and utter selflessness was what made everyone love her.

As a little girl, India had tried to be like her, but she had soon found out that it was impossible. She had no idea how her mother had changed from a shy girl into the fearless wife of Lord Voldemort, but she knew that she herself was incapable of that sort of a transformation. She was too proud and self-righteous. She had strong opinions on right and wrong, and, unlike her mother, she believed in justice.

Thinking about this, India decided it was about time she gave up trying to be like her mother. She was nothing like Iris Foryst, and maybe that was a good thing. At least _she_ wouldn't end up married to a mad man.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The already known secret

India snuck back into her dormitory around four in the morning, and dropped off to sleep the moment her head hit the pillow. Surprisingly, given what she had read before going to bed, she slept solidly and dreamlessly, and woke up feeling refreshed and awake. The mid-afternoon sun was pouring in through the windows, and as India pulled herself up to a seated position, she realized that Hermione had long since woken up and left. Thankful that Hermione had let her sleep in on this last Sunday before classes began again, she stretched happily and climbed out of bed.

Once she was dressed and had braided her hair, India descended the stairs into the common room to find Harry and Ron seated at a table, playing a game of chess.

"Harry! Ron!" She cried, running towards them. Harry and Ron both stood up and hugged her one by one.

"How are you feeling?" Harry asked immediately, looking her over worriedly.

"Great! I rarely even have headaches now. How was your Christmas?" India asked.

"It was great. Lupin and Tonks came over to visit too." Ron replied.

"Tonks came!?" India asked.

"Yeah, do you know her?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Andromeda and my mother are close friends." India explained.

"Hey, what's that?" India asked suddenly, changing the subject. She gestured over to a piece of parchment nailed onto the wall.

"Oh that's the sign up sheet for Apparition lessons." Ron said, "Me and Harry just signed up a few minutes ago."

"Really? I'd better go put my name down too then." India said, turning to leave.

"By the way, where's Hermione?" She asked. Ron looked down at the carpet and Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"The library?" He guessed.

India nodded wordlessly and left Harry and Ron to go add her name to the sheet before leaving the common room to go find Hermione. Of course Hermione had disappeared the moment Ron had returned, India thought. The sooner Ron breaks up with Lavender the better.

Sure enough, India found Hermione buried behind a stack of books in the library, working on an essay Snape had given them to do over the Christmas break.

"I can't believe I forgot all about this essay!" Hermione exclaimed, anguished.

"Don't worry, Snape said he's going to let me help him correct essays during my detentions. I'll just make sure to correct yours and give you an O." India said jokingly. Hermione raised her head from her work to give her a withering look.

They sat in silence for a moment while India watched Hermione write. Her writing was almost as beautiful as her mother's, but not quite as small. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't forget what she had read the night before, and wanted nothing more than to share it with Hermione. However, she decided it would be best to tell Harry and Ron too, so she might as well wait until they were all together.

There were rules her parents had created to make their relationship work even though they were fighting against each other. Whatever is told to the other in secret, stays a secret, no matter what. Whatever is found out without the other one telling them, doesn't have to stay a secret. Luckily, when India was born, her parents had decided that the rules would not apply to her, and that she was free to do as she liked. Any information she got against her father she could tell to whom she pleased, and India thought that it was extremely important that Harry know as soon as possible what he was up against. Hunting Horcruxes was not going to be an easy task, but thanks to her mother's diaries, she might be able to tell him the whereabouts of some of them. Marvolo's ring, however, had in fact left her mother's finger after all. Where it was now, India had no idea.

. . . . .

It was a few days before India found the time to tell Harry, Ron, and Hermione about the Horcruxes. After classon on Wednesday evening, she gathered her three friends into a small circle in the corner of the common room, far away from everyone else, and using Snape's _muffliato _spell as an extra precaution, told them what she knew so far about Voldemort's Horcruxes. However, she left out all mention of her parents' secret room, and decided not too mention that her mother had been present when Tom had made the ring into a Horcrux.

"India, I know." Harry told her quietly, and India stared at him in shock.

"You _know_?" She asked incredulously. Looking round at Ron and Hermione's faces, she realized that they too already knew what she thought had been a complete secret.

"Dumbledore told me. The meetings we've been having...that's what they've been about." Harry said.

"How does Dumbledore know?" India asked.

"The diary that possessed Ginny in second year-your mom even came to interview me about that-and the ring." Harry said. "Dumbledore found the ring in Marvolo's cabin and killed it. It was cursed though, and now his hand is all black and dead looking."

India took a moment to mull this new information over. Now that she thought of it, she remembered her mother had stopped wearing the ring right after the incident with the Chamber of Secrets. It must have been then that Dumbledore had figured out Voldemort's secret, and the ring was no longer safe to be worn in public. Had Voldemort somehow told her mother to hide the ring, or had her mother hidden and cursed it of her own will?

India pulled herself out of her reverie, and asked Harry something she had been meaning to ask him for a very long time.

"What did my mother ask when she interviewed you?" India questioned.

"Well...it's hard to remember, it was so long ago." Harry said, hesitating, "She interviewed Ginny too, you can ask her about it. All I remember was that she spoke to me in Parseltongue and asked me about my parentage. I think she was trying to find out if I was related to Slytherin or if I could speak Parseltongue because Voldemort somehow transferred some of his powers to me by accident."

Ron, who had been silent until now, suddenly hid his face behind Harry's back.

"It's Lavender. Can we be done this discussion now, I need to find a way to escape." He said, nervously.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Apparition lessons start in less than ten minutes. We need to leave anyway." Hermione said, standing up and removing the _muffliato_ spell.

"Won-won!" Lavender squealed, catching sight of Ron. Harry stood up abruptly and followed India and Hermione who were already making their way as far away from Ron and Lavender as possible.

. . . . .

The Great Hall was filled with sixth year students, hula-hoops, and absolutely no tables whatsoever. India, Harry, and Hermione joined the mass of students, assembled in the middle of the hall, awaiting instructions from a group of teachers that included Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Foryst. A small, frail looking wizard was standing next to them, and after a moment, he addressed the hall.

"Good evening, students! My name is Wilkie Twycross and I am the Apparition instructor from the Ministry of Magic who will be preparing you for the apparition exam you will all be taking later this year." He paused before continuing. "Now, to begin, I want each of you to take a stand in front of a hula-hoop. You are going to attempt to apparate inside of your hula-hoop. Do not be discouraged if you do not get it the first time through."

India, Harry, and Hermione each found hula-hoops near one another, and stood there waiting for instructions. Finally, the tiny instructor spoke again.

"Now, the thing to remember when you're apparating is the three Ds: Destination, Determination, and Deliberation. Alright-"

"Whatever it is you have to say, Mr. Malfoy, I am sure it is not as important as what Mr. Twycross is saying right now." Professor McGonagall said, interrupting the instructor.

India looked up from her hula-hoop and searched the room for Draco. She found him standing a few yards away, his face turning pink as he stepped away from Crabbe, with whom he had been talking a moment ago. Draco caught her staring at him and contorted his face into his best arrogant scowl. They kept eye contact for a moment, until India looked away and brought her attention back to the instructor.

Soon it was time for the students to attempt Apparition on their own. Attempt was the appropriate word to use, because none of them seemed to be able to do it. No matter how hard she tried, India was unable to move an inch, let alone inside her circle. The only one who succeeded in getting anywhere was Susan Bones, who ended up getting splinched really badly and was taken to the hospital wing immediately.

Snape, Iris, and Professor McGonagall circulated, giving out tips and keeping the students from slacking off and talking with their friends. India looked over at Draco and saw her mother talking to him. Straining her ears to hear their conversation, she didn't even notice when Snape came up behind her.

"Eavesdropping are we?" He asked.

India jumped, and turned around to face him.

"If they're talking about apparition fine, but if they're talking about something else..." India trailed off, and Snape rolled his eyes.

"Your mother wouldn't talk about something like that out in the open. Seriously India, use your head." Snape said. "And the whole thing is none of your business anyway."

India glared at him. "Yeah, well then do a better job at babysitting him so that no one else ends up in the hospital wing nearly dead." India said.

"Calm down Riddle." Snape warned, hushing her, and turned his back on her, ending the conversation.

No, India though angrily, she would not calm down. She was going to find out what Draco was up to whether they liked it or not.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: The other side of the story

India spent the next couple of weeks sneaking peaks at Harry's Maurader's Map, trying to catch Draco coming in or out of what she had learned was called the Room of Requirement. Apparently, it was a room that could turn into whatever you wanted it to. All you had to do was wish for something and walk back and forth in front of the wall three times. The problem was, India didn't know what to wish for.

On the night of Ron's birthday, India and Hermione were up late working in the library when Iris Foryst came to find them.

"Ron's in the hospital. He's alright, but you might want to go visit him." Iris said casually. India watched as all the color drained from Hermione's face.

"What happened?" She cried, standing up suddenly and drawing an angry look from the librarian, Madam Pince.

"He drank poisoned wine. Luckily Harry shoved a bezoar down his throat and shaved his life." She replied calmly.

Iris's composure did nothing to reassure Hermione and India, who gathered up their things as fast as possible, nearly knocking their chairs over in their hurry. They ran out of the library and all the way up to the hospital wing, not even bothering to drop off their school books in their dormitory. When they pushed open the door to the hospital wing, they found an anxious Harry and a crying Lavender standing over Ron's bed. Ron, however, was asleep, thanks to some medication Madam Pomfrey had given him.

"How is he?" Hermione asked worriedly, tugging on Harry's arm.

"He's fine." Harry assured her, "He should be out of the hospital by tomorrow."

"Oh good." India said, letting out a sigh of relief. "Where on earth did he get poisoned wine?" She asked.

"Well, first he ate these chocolates spiked with love potion that Romilda Vane had given to me for Christmas, and fell madly in love with her. So, I took him to see Professor Slughorn to see if there was any sort of potion he could make to reverse the effects. He said that there wasn't and that we would just have to wait until the love potion wore off and that we could all have a glass of wine in the meantime. So then he opened up this bottle of wine that he was supposed to have given to Dumbledore for Christmas and Ron was the first to take a sip. He fell over choking and gaging, and for a moment, I really thought he was going to die!" Harry exclaimed.

India felt her face getting red and her temper rising, not out of worry, but out of anger. The moment Harry had said the wine was for Dumbledore, she had known. It all made sense. Draco had poisoned the wine when he had snuck into Slughorn's party because he thought it was going to be given to Dumbledore as a Christmas present! How stupid could Snape have been! He had caught him that night, shouldn't he have thought to check if Draco had _done_ anything?

Furious at Snape, her mother, and Dumbledore for not keeping a close enough eye on Draco's badly thought out assassination attempts, India excused herself quietely and ran out of the hospital wing all the way to Dumbledore's office. Whispering every sort of candy she could think of, she finally found the right password (caramel coated lizard tails) and climbed the spiral staircase as fast as she could go. Pausing at the top to catch her breath, she pushed open the door, not even bothering to knock.

Dumbledore was seated at his desk, her mother was sitting on a chair in front of him, and Snape was pacing the room. They all looked up in surprise as she entered.

"Why the _hell_ are you three brilliant witches and wizards pathetically unable to stop a sixteen-year boy from nearly murdering everyone in this school!?" She screamed, slamming the door shut behind her. There was a silence, and then her mother spoke.

"She's right. This is quite sad, really." Iris said, laughing.

India stared at her mother in exasperation. She was _laughing_?

"Listen, India. There is only so much we can do without looking suspicious. Remember, I'm not supposed to know about this plan, and Severus is supposed to be a Death Eater." Dumbledore explained calmly.

"And mom? What's your excuse?" India asked angrily.

"I have none." Iris replied.

"Well, India." Her mother said after a moment's pause. "If it makes you feel better, you can help."

"I've been trying to find out what he's up to since school began!" India exclaimed.

"Not so easy then is it?" Snape said, smirking. India gave him a withering look.

"I also thought I wasn't supposed to get _involved_. I thought you had some sort of plan and that I was just supposed to let things happen the way they did." India said.

"We do. The death of students is not part of the plan though." Iris replied.

India looked around at the three of them, utterly confused.

"Alright!" She said finally, for a lack of anything better to say. "I'm going back to the hospital wing." She said, giving up in frustration.

She turned to grab hold of the door knob, and opened the door to the staircase. Suddenly remembering something she had been meaning to ask about, she turned back to face the room.

"Did you kill the ring?" She asked Dumbledore, staring at his blackened hand.

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows, and her mother and Snape looked at her in surprise.

"Yes. How do you know it needed to be killed?" Dumbledore asked her.

"The secret room." India said in Parseltongue, so that only her mother could understand. Iris's face lit up at the mention of it.

"Would you excuse me, I need to speak with India for a moment." Iris said to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore nodded and Snape looked at the two of them suspiciously as Iris directed India out into the staircase and then down into the main part of the school. Finding an empty classroom, Iris gestured for India to enter and then followed her inside, closing the door behind her,

"So, how far have you gotten?" India's mother asked.

"I just started 6th year." India replied, unable to look her mother in the eye. She was not sure she wanted to have this conversation at this very moment.

"So Tom has killed his father and grandparents, and...what else has happened?" Iris questioned.

"I stopped after that scene." India said quietly.

Sensing her discomfort, her mother came and gave India a gentle hug and a kiss on the forehead before she continued.

"I know it's disturbing, reading about that, and I wish I could have been able to tell you the whole story, but we have rules. What we agree to tell each other is confidential, everything else is not. The Horcruxes were shared information, as you can tell, so I couldn't tell anyone. Don't stop reading, though, it gets better, I promise." Iris said.

"How much better can it get? It's not like the story has a happy ending or anything..." India said, finally looking at her mother.

"The story isn't over," Iris replied, smiling, "and besides, I have no problem with the way things turned out."

India shivered, thinking of all her father had done and wondering how her mother could have no problem with it.

"Do you not care about all the people he's killed, all the families he's torn apart?" India asked, her voice shaking.

She expected her mother to smile and say something vague like "death is a part of life" or "look at the bigger picture", but instead, her mother looked almost sad, an emotion nearly unknown on her face.

"Yes I care." Iris said quietly, "I chose a side in this war. If I didn't care about undoing the damage he's done, I would have taken you to America and raised you away from all of this. Just because I accept the way things are, that doesn't mean I enjoy it. The only difference between me and everyone else is that I'm not scared of losing the war."

India and her mother stood in silence for a moment and India realized her mother had changed a lot since her time at Hogwarts. At sixteen she had been unstable, terrified, and unsure of what the future held. However, the woman who had raised her was no longer trying to make the world into what she wanted, she loved it the way it was. She had almost forgotten that the person her mother was today was not the crazed teenager in her diaries; and she was glad to have remembered it.

. . . . .

Half an hour later, India said goodbye to her mother with the intention of going to her parents' room to continue her reading. It was more important than ever that she read the diaries quickly because they contained information that could potentially help Harry on his hunt for Horcruxes.

India climbed the stairs to the first floor, walking so quickly she was nearly running. Rounding the first corner, she ran right into a small first year girl with blonde curly hair, nearly knocking her over. The girl jumped back in surprise and dropped her books.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" India cried, bending to pick up the little girl's books. She stood back up to hand them to her, and noticed that the girl was staring at her in horror, her mouth gaping open. Wondering why the little first year was so terrified, India almost unconsciously entered her mind, using legilimency on her.

India stared at the girl in shock. Well, she wasn't really a girl after all, she was Crabbe with the help of polyjuice potion. Bursting out laughing, India plucked up one of Crabbe's blonde curls and twirled it around her finger.

"Well then, Draco's making you stand guard for him is he? That means he's in the Room of Requirement right now, doesn't it?" She asked.

Crabbe tried to turn and run, but India shouted "_Petrificus totalus_!" before he could get more than three feet away. Walking over to him, she knelt down beside his head and looked into his eyes. _How do I get into the room where Draco is?_ She thought, rummaging around in Crabbe's head for the answer until she found what she was looking for. She saw Draco, standing in what India could guess was the empty Slytherin common room. Goyle was there beside Crabbe, and Draco was glaring at the both of them.

"You will _so_ drink the potion! No one can know it's you or they'll suspect _me_! When someone comes, drop whatever it is you're holding, but don't come in no matter what happens." Draco face was white as snow and his eyes were darting around nervously, terrified someone would overhear their conversation.

"Where will you be though?" Goyle asked, and India saw Draco clench his hands into fists.

"I've already told you!" He whispered angrily, "The room where everything is hidden. Now don't make me repeat it again, someone could hear!"

True, India thought, coming out of Crabbe's memory, I heard. India pushed Crabbe's paralyzed body over to the side of the corridor and then walked over to the blank stretch of wall she knew hid the entrance to the Room of Requirement. She walked back and forth in front of the wall three times, whispering to herself.

"I need the place where everything is hidden. I need the place where everything is hidden. I need the place where everything is hidden."

She paused, and for a moment her heart sank as she thought that it had not worked. Then, slowly but surely, a door took form in front of her very eyes. Beaming, India stepped forward and pulled open the door. She quietly slipped inside and closed the door behind her, trying desperately not to make her presence known. Draco had surely already heard the books drop, and maybe even their conversation, but it didn't hurt to hope for the best.

The room was completely and utterly silent, and India began to wonder if Draco really was there after all. He's probably just hiding, she thought. She began to make her way slowly through the rows on rows of miscellaneous items, her wand at the ready. How on earth was she going to find him in all of this? India wondered. Just then, she heard a sound from behind her and caught a glimpse of white blonde hair before she saw a red light and then darkness.

. . . . .

The first thing India saw when she woke up on the cold, hard floor of the girl's bathroom was Moaning Myrtle's transparent face, pressed up against her own.

"She's not dead!" Moaning Myrtle cried disappointedly when India opened her eyes and looked around. Moaning Myrtle floated off with her arms crossed and her face in a sour pout. India put a hand up to feel her throbbing head. Attempting to sit up, she looked over to her right and saw Draco, his back to her, his head bent, his hands gripping the sink in front of him.

"My head is _finally_ almost better and you have to go and stun me!" India complained, her annoyance apparent in her voice.

Draco didn't answer, or even turn to look at her, and India realized with a shock that he was crying. Instantly, her annoyance and anger evaporated and were replaced by pity. She pushed herself up, holding onto the sink behind her to help herself stand up and waited for her head to stop spinning. Finally, when she felt it was safe to take a step without falling flat on her face, she let go of the sink and quietly walked over to Draco. Carefully, she lifted a hand and placed it gently on his back. India felt his muscles tighten at the touch and after a second he shrugged her off and walked away, always keeping his back to her.

"What's this? You feel sorry for me now, do you?" He spat, finally turning around to face her. India's voice caught in her throat and she was unable to respond.

"Do you really think I _want_ to do this!?" He cried, his temper rising, "Your_ father_'s going to kill me and my parents if I don't complete the task, and the year's already half over! You don't know what it's like to be threatened like that! You and your mother are the only ones safe from him, you could _never_ understand!"

In a flash, India's temper returned, and her face flushed red.

"I would rather _die_ than murder an innocent man!" She cried, advancing towards him. "And I'm sure I'm not the only one. My mother, Hermione, Ron, Harry, they all would too!"

"Oh right! Of course Savior Potter would be all heroic and noble!" Draco spat, "Who could compare to the _famous_ Harry Potter? The Chosen One, or whatever they're calling him these days."

"Don't you think it's time you grew up and stopped being jealous! Harry's not who you think he is, he doesn't want to be famous, he doesn't want attention, he just wants to help. Do you think he chose this life?" India asked furiously.

Draco walked over to a bench and sat down and put his head in his hands, and India unwillingly felt another twinge of pity. She wondered whether she had been a bit hard on him, but quickly reminded herself that he deserved it. Didn't he? There was silence in the bathroom except for the sound of Draco's sobs and the occasional fake whimper from Moaning Myrtle. Finally, India spoke.

"He's not going to kill you or your parents, you mean too much to my mother, he wouldn't do that to her." India paused. "Even if he was going to, Dumbledore could hide you, or my mother could. There are ways around this."

"No. The only way to be safe is to be on his side. This is our one chance to gain back his favour, I can't mess it up." Draco answered finally in a muffled voice, without even lifting his head.

Slowly, India walked over to the bench and sat down next to Draco, not daring to take a peak at his face. She half expected him to stand up and start shouting again, but instead he just buried his face deeper into his hands and remained silent. Finally India spoke.

"Do you know what happens when you kill another person? It damages your soul, sometimes it even breaks it in two." India said quietly. "Please, you are not a murderer, you're too kind." She said, surprising herself.

"How do you know what I am?" Draco spat, finally lifting his head. "Does a kind person betray the only true friend they've ever had just to save face in front of a bunch of worthless idiots, all in the name of a cause they don't even believe in!?" Draco cried, his face red.

"Was that an apology?" India asked, her eyes brimming with tears.

"I don't know. Was it?" Draco asked.

India let out a sob before falling into his arms, and then they were both crying and holding each other tighter than ever before. Pulling back slightly, Draco pressed his lips to hers and they sat there kissing until they ran out of breath. Finally, India pulled him back into a hug, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I missed you." She whispered.

"You have no idea." He replied.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Trust the liars

The restored friendship between India Foryst and Draco Malfoy ended up turning a lot of heads, and was the subject of many whispered conversations, especially among the Slytherin and Gryffindor students. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were stunned; Pansy Parkinson was heartbroken. Draco dumped her the day he made up with India, saying simply and harshly that he had never loved her, and that he had only dated her out of a lack of better options. Although India and Draco purposely made it unclear to everyone around them whether they were a couple or not, it was obvious to everyone that they were making up for lost time.

India's free time was now spent split between homework with Hermione, walks around the grounds with Draco, reading in her parents' room, and detention with Snape. She felt happier than she had felt in years, and despite the fact her and Draco were on opposite sides of a war that was just beginning, India enjoyed spending time with him just as much, if not more, than when they had been children. They picked up their old friendship, and somehow, it was as if the last two years had never happened.

Draco was different around her, and India was surprised to realize she had almost forgotten what he was really like. The mask he put on for everyone else disappeared when he was alone with her and he was able to be himself. India often thought that life would be a lot better for everyone if Draco always acted the way he did when he was with her. She couldn't explain to her friends why she loved him, she couldn't justify his actions, she couldn't ever make them believe that they misunderstood him. To Hermione, Ron, Harry, and nearly everyone else at Hogwarts, Draco was a bully and the son of a Death Eater. He was arrogant and cruel and tried his best to diminish others and prove his superiority. The terrible thing was that India could not deny any of this; it was all true. Only, no one else knew the whole story. The odds were stacked against Draco from the moment he was born and he had no more chosen his life than India had hers. It was not his fault his parents were prejudiced in the same way that it was not her fault she was the daughter of the worst dark wizard of all time. Maybe this was why she was able to forgive him; she could relate to him.

. . . . . .

On the morning of Gryffindor's Quidditch match against Hufflepuff, Ron and Harry quickly ate breakfast and went down to the pitch early as usual, and India and Hermione were left alone in the Great Hall. India glanced over at the Slytherin table and saw Draco stand up and gesture for Crabbe and Goyle to follow. Of course, India thought, he's going to the Room of Requirement while everyone's down watching the game. She stared at him until he looked over at her and raised her eyebrows at him. He gave her a look that clearly said, "don't you dare bring up the subject". She smiled and he half smiled in return, but his face remained strained and pale. India felt a sudden urge to go to him, but he was already walking out of the doors of the Great Hall before she could make up her mind.

India turned to look back at Hermione, who had been wordlessly watching the silent exchange.

"He's going to the Room of Requirement isn't he?" Hermione asked India.

"Yes, what better time while everyone's down watching the game." India replied sadly.

"How do you know he's not going to end up accidentally murdering someone on his next attempt?" Hermione asked, looking worried.

"Well he promised he would only do his work in the Room of Requirement from now on, so there shouldn't be any more accidents." India explained. Hermione, however, didn't look convinced.

"He promised? Are you sure you can trust him? I know you two are close...but he _has_ lied before, and it's not as if he's thinking straight at the moment." Hermione said cautiously, fearing India would be angry.

India, however, happened to agree with her.

"I know, I'm keeping an eye on him." India paused before continuing. "Although, have you noticed how obsessed Harry's been getting about Draco lately? It's really starting to make me nervous. If he somehow manages to stop him or expose him, Dumbledore's plan won't work and who knows what will happen then!" India exclaimed worriedly.

Hermione nodded, "Ron told me he's been checking the Maurader's Map in between classes."

"The whole thing is so twisted and complicated that I don't even know what to do anymore." India sighed, looking down at her half eaten breakfast in dismay.

"Well, you know what? Why don't we go watch Quidditch. Are you done?" Hermione asked, nodding at India's plate.

"Yeah, let's go." She replied, standing up.

. . . . .

The game was terrible. McLaggen ruined everything, and India and Hermione sat grimacing in their seats, feeling bad for Harry. When the Hufflepuffs finally won by a landslide, India and Hermione rushed down onto the pitch immediately to try and cheer up Harry.

Harry was in a state. He was furious at McLaggen and devastated that they had lost so badly to Hufflepuff of all houses. And, India soon found out, as they made their way back up to the castle, he was also mad about something else.

"Just before the match, guess who I saw sneaking off with two girls who looked like they didn't want to be with him?" Harry whispered.

India sighed. "If it was Draco, then forget it. I've already told you a hundred times that he is _not_ a Death Eater! I would know, wouldn't I?" India asked exasperatedly.

"How do I know you're not covering up for him?" Harry asked suddenly, taking both India and Hermione by surprise.

"Harry-" Hermione began, but was cut off by Harry.

"I know, I'm sorry. I trust you, it's just...well you wouldn't want him to go to Azkaban, so I just thought-" Harry said quickly.

"I know what you thought." India said venomously before he could finish his sentence. She knew her face was flushing and she felt her temper rising in indignation. However, she couldn't help but feel a tiny twinge of guilt in her stomach. He was right, after all. She was covering for Draco...but on Dumbledore's orders.

"Does this maybe have anything to do with the fact that I'm Voldemort's daughter?" India asked Harry angrily, making Harry look extremely uncomfortable.

"No! I just thought because you and him are..." Harry trailed off, unsure of how to describe their relationship.

"Friends?" India asked, shooting him an angry glance. Hermione looked back and forth between the two of them uneasily, unsure of how this was going to end.

India, however, had no desire to fight with Harry and forced herself to calm down. If she had been in his shoes, she would have had the same suspicions. Slowly, she regained control over her mind and turned to face Harry.

"Listen, I understand why you'd think that," She said, and Harry looked at her in surprise. "but I have been keeping a close eye on Draco and I'm _certain_ he's not a Death Eater. I wouldn't cover up for him, in fact, if he was a Death Eater, I would try my best to expose him." India said seriously, wishing it was not a lie. Harry smiled nervously.

"I believe you. I really do." Harry said quietly. "But I still think Malfoy's working for Voldemort, and you're not going to change my mind about that."

India laughed, "I was afraid that would be the case but don't worry, if he is a Death Eater, I'll personally escort him to Azkaban."

As Harry laughed, relieved that India was not mad anymore, India chanced a glance over at Hermione and saw her own worry mirrored in Hermione's brown eyes.

. . . . . .

Late that night, after all the girls in India's dormitory were asleep, India snuck, once again, out of Gryffindor tower to read her mother's diaries. She was nearly done her mother's sixth year; the year her mother had had the biggest personality change in the history of humanity. Iris Foryst had begun her sixth year at Hogwarts wearing a Horcrux on her finger, more confused and scared than she had ever been in her life. She knew there was no hope of changing Tom, and so she decided she would just have to change herself.

India was amazed to see how quickly her mother had gone from shy to outgoing; from insecure to confident. She made friends with people she had never even talked to before and, for the first time since she had arrived at Hogwarts, she didn't need to be protected by Tom Riddle. At first, her fellow classmates were perplexed at the change in her behaviour, but over time she began to win the respect of nearly every student and teacher. She began a particularly strong relationship with Dumbledore, who was a Hogwarts teacher at the time. She visited him often during her free time.

Another person she became close with was Ted Tonks, a fellow Hufflepuff student. Through him, she met Andromeda Black, his future wife, and sister of both Narcissa Black and Bellatrix Black. Andromeda hated Bellatrix with a passion and was caught between wanting to take care of Narcissa and wanting to never speak to her again. Unlike the rest of her family, Andromeda was a Gryffindor and firmly against pureblood supremacy, which made it very difficult for her to get along with either of her sisters. The summer before sixth year, Andromeda had refused to return home for the summer and had instead gone to live at Ted's house. She had not spoken to her parents since and kept both Narcissa and Bellatrix at an icy distance. Iris found out halfway through sixth year that Andromeda's father beat his three daughters and wife, which was the main reason why Andromeda ran away from home. Bellatrix, the oldest, tried her best to please her father and thought he was right to beat them. Narcissa, the youngest, hated her father and tried to avoid his rage as much as possible, but was too afraid to ever speak up against him. Andromeda, on the other hand, put all of her energy into disobeying her father and purposely tried to make him as angry as possible. She did her best to rebel against the beliefs her family stood for and made it very clear to her father that no amount of physical abuse could make her change her mind.

Throughout the year, Iris also became friends with Lucius and Narcissa, but it was a slow process. Lucius, jealous of all the attention she had been getting that year, began throwing poorly concealed insults at her whenever Tom was not around. Iris, who at the time was still able to get annoyed, began to hate him more than she had before; which was saying something. However, she always made sure not to let Tom know, for fear of what he might do. As the months went on, the enmity between Iris and Lucius grew exponentially until finally Lucius decided it was time to humiliate Iris once and for all. In an attempt to break her heart, he brewed Polyjuice Potion and slipped Tom a wild poison to make him sick. On the day Tom was too sick to go to class, Lucius came in to class disguised as Tom and kissed Bellatrix in front of their entire Advanced Potions class. However, Iris was not fooled and began speaking Parseltongue to Lucius. When he couldn't answer her, she said in English "Come on Tom, if you're really Tom then prove it. Speak to me." Lucius attempted to hiss but Iris simply laughed, stunned him, and took the half-empty bottle of Polyjuice Potion out of the pockets of his robes. The class burst out laughing, but Professor Slughorn, who was teaching the class at the time, became very angry and took Lucius to see Headmaster Dippet the moment he regained consciousness. Brewing Polyjuice Potion was sufficient to get a student expelled and Slughorn, seeing as he was head of Slytherin at the time, was able to order the expulsion students from his house. Being very fond of brilliant Iris Foryst, Professor Slughorn was particularly angry with Lucius and told Headmaster Dippet that he should be expelled at once. When Iris heard the news, she thought it was much to severe of a punishment, and after a long talk with Professor Slughorn, finally convinced him to let Lucius stay at Hogwarts. From that day on, Lucius was in debt to his enemy and therefore felt he could no longer tease her. However, Iris kept talking to him to time to time and very slowly they began to become friends.

Through Lucius, Iris became friends with his girlfriend Narcissa, and through Narcissa, she got to know Bellatrix. Bellatrix hated Iris with a passion and never missed an opportunity to let her know. Although, in an effort to appeal to Tom, she was sometimes nice to her, only to make up for it later when Tom was not around. Iris, however, couldn't care less about what Bellatrix thought of her, and treated Bellatrix as a friend, even though she knew Bellatrix was far from being her friend.

It was around the middle of sixth year that Tom officially became Lord Voldemort among his circle of pure-blood Slytherin friends. He preached the message that Muggles and Muggle Borns were inferior beings and that it was only natural that wizards should rule them. Of course, his precious little flower was the exception. Iris was eccentric enough that Tom had no problem convincing Lucius, Bellatrix, Narcissa, and his other earliest followers that Iris was not completely human; that she was something else. In fact, as the year progressed, that statement became more and more true; Iris was slowly losing her humanity. The first thing to go was her self-consciousness, followed by anger, and then by fear. Remorse was the last to go, but by the month of May during her sixth year, Iris was very near to being emotionless. The only feelings she had left were happiness, sadness, and love.

India thought about all that had happened in her mother's diaries so far and was torn between admiration and repulsion. Voldemort had opened the Chamber of Secrets and had started setting the basilisk on Muggle Borns during the last diary entry she had read, and Iris had asked to know what he was doing. Of course, that meant she would have to keep the secret to her grave. India wondered at her mother's ability to stand by and watch her fellow students be attacked and still kiss the boy behind the attacks. It was so twisted even Iris had a hard time with it and wished she had not asked Tom to tell her what he was doing. If she hadn't, she would have been able to try to stop the attacks.

As she opened the diary to being reading again, a most unwelcome thought popped into India's mind. _They're just like me and Draco. _India thought, shuddering. She knew what Draco was doing, she was unable to tell anyone or do anything about it, and she was kissing him just the same. Pushing this realization out of her mind, India began reading.

_May 25th_

_I met with Fenrir again today while we were in Hogsmead. Tom freaked out when he found out where I was and threatened to murder Fenrir if he ever laid a hand on me. It took hours to calm him down again and it really didn't help that Lucius, Bella, and Cissy all agreed with him. I honestly think they hate werewolves even more than they do muggle borns! (Not that Fenrir does much to improve people's image of werewolves.) This said, from the moment they're bitten, the odds are stacked against them. They can't get a legal magical education, which means they can't get any sort of job, and almost everyone is both afraid and repulsed by them. No wonder so many of them end up criminals, it's not like they have many other options! I told Fenrir today that I would teach him myself if he wanted, but he said he didn't want to have anything to do with wizards, in fact, he wants to make everyone into werewolves..._

_I went to talk to Dumbledore about this today. I told him about Fenrir, and about how he was biting children on purpose, and told him that if he did become headmaster next year, he should find a way to let werewolves come to Hogwarts. He agreed with me, and said there was a werewolf by the name of Remus Lupin, who had just turned eleven, who might be coming to Hogwarts next year. Funny enough, this boy was bitten by Fenrir. Dumbledore said he was trying to think up a place where the boy could go during full moons so that both him and the other students would be safe. I really hope the boy is able to come. The more werewolves who are able to be part of society, the better._

_June 3rd_

_Hagrid is going to be expelled after all. Honestly, I don't think they have enough proof, but unfortunately, Tom's word counts for a lot in Headmaster Dippet's eyes. I went to see Dumbledore today and I told him that it was me who had opened the Chamber of Secrets and killed Myrtle. I told him the monster was a basilisk, not a spider, and that it lived in the Chamber of Secrets created by Slytherin that could only be opened by a Parselmouth. I'm a Parselmouth, I told him. _

_Of course, he immediately pointed out that I was Muggle Born and that I couldn't possibly be related to Salazar Slytherin, but I told him that I was the descendant of a squib, and showed him Marvolo's ring to prove it. He stared at the ring for such a long time, I began to wonder if he knew it was a Horcrux. Finally, he asked to hold it in a really weird voice, but when I said no, he seemed to come back to his senses. _

_"Well," he said finally, "Your lie is a noble one, but it is exactly that. A lie." _

_"It's a confession." I said. "I'm giving you proof I did it, you can't expel Hagrid when you have more proof that it was me!" _

_Dumbledore smiled, and I knew they was no chance of convincing him. I know should have gone to Headmaster Dippet first, but this was a conversation I needed to have with Dumbledore._

_"I happen to have some proof that it was _not_ you." Dumbledore countered, "The ghost of the girl who was killed has returned to haunt the toilet in the girl's bathroom, and she told me in no uncertain terms that the voice she heard speaking Parseltongue right before she died was male. Not female. Now unless you have any proof against any _male_ students at this school, I am afraid that Hagrid will have to be expelled. Either that or the school will be closed forever."_

_"But certainly, you know it's not Hagrid." I exclaimed, and Dumbledore smiled sadly._

_"You and I both know who the real culprit is, and that is why I think the world will be much better off with you armed with a wand. Now, is there anything you would like to tell me?" Dumbledore asked me; his gaze more intense that I'd ever seen it before. I was reminded that __Dumbledore had asked Tom the exact same question when he had told him that the school would be closed if the person responsible for Myrtle's murder was not found. Of course, Tom had said no._

_"Yes." I replied and smiled at him. Dumbledore waited for me to go on, and when I didn't, he nodded his head and smiled._

_"I see. You want to tell me something, but you can't. Is that it?" He asked._

_"This won't happen again." I said, willing him to understand the meaning of my words. "What is told must stay quiet, what is not can be spread."_

_Dumbledore looked me over for a moment, and I felt like I was being examined under a microscope, but I didn't mind. Finally, he seemed satisfied, and walked over to the door and held it open for me. Understanding that this was my cue to leave, I turned to walk out the door, but was stopped by the sound of his voice._

_"The truth is always the first victim of war." Dumbledore said, and turning back to look at him, I smiled sadly and nodded._

_Good thing I knew how to lie._


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: In the hospital again

India went back to her parents' room every night that week, and by Friday, she had finished her mother's seventh year diary. Her mother and father had graduated as head boy and head girl, admired by the entire school. No one suspected what Tom would become, except maybe Dumbledore. After that, India only had a vague idea of what had happened, but there were no more diaries left to read.

The night she finished the seventh diary, she took a picture of Lucius and Narcissa at their graduation out of a photo album she found on the bookshelf to give to Draco. Narcissa was dressed in a fancy white dress with her hair curled, and Lucius was the spitting image of Draco. Well, India thought, it was more that Draco was the spitting image of his father.

For once, India didn't have to hide as she left the room for the last time and made her way back to Gryffindor tower. It was the middle of the day, and as far as her friends knew, she was with Draco. She smiled to herself as she reached Gryffindor tower and gave the password to the fat lady. Dobby had said there was lasagna for supper tonight; her favourite.

India entered the common room to find Ron and Hermione seated next to the fire, talking. India beamed. Ever since Ron had broken up with Lavender, he and Hermione had been closer than ever, and India couldn't have been happier for them. She had just decided to let them be and go up to her room instead when Harry burst through the circular entrance to the common room soaked in water and something that looked an awful lot like blood.

India started in fright and Ron and Hermione jumped out of their seats and ran towards him. Harry, however, was in such a state he didn't notice. His eyes scanned the room frantically. Catching sight of India, he ran towards her and grabbed her by the shoulders, getting her covered in water and blood.

"India!" He gasped, shaking her. "Go to the hospital wing! NOW!"

India stood rooted to the spot as Harry let go of her, pushed his way past a confused Ron and a worried Hermione, and sped up the stairs to the boys dormitories. _Go to the hospital wing? _India felt a shiver go down her spine. Snapping out of her state of shock, she took one look at Ron and Hermione, and took off out of the common room and up to the hospital wing as fast as she could go. Arriving at the door to the hospital wing, she reached out to grab the door handle when the door opened by itself. Snape stood in the doorway, his face more pale and sallow than usual.

"Your precious Potter is not so perfect after all." Snape snarled as he pushed past India. India stared after him for a moment, not daring to look inside the hospital wing. Finally, prying her eyes away from Snape's retreating figure, she turned her head to search the room. Her suspicions had been correct. There was Draco, lying on a hospital bed, covered in his own blood with Madam Pomfrey and her mother attempting to sew up his wounds before he bled to death.

India ran forwards and knelt besides his bed, forcing back tears. Madam Pomfrey told her impatiently that she couldn't be there and that she should leave. India told her to shut up and work, and that was the end of that.

Her hands shaking, India grabbed a wet cloth from the bedside table and began cleaning some of the blood off of Draco's face while stroking his bloodstained white hair with the other. He opened his eyes at the touch and attempted to smile.

"You can tell Potter that he can mutilate me anytime he likes if it makes you pay this much attention to me." Draco joked, his voice raspy and hoarse.

"Shut up." India said, half laughing, half sobbing.

"What did you do to make him do this to you anyway?" India asked.

"What did_ I_ do?" Draco asked incredulously. "I'm sorry, is Potter the one who nearly died?"

India laughed shakily. If he was able to be his own obnoxious self, then he was definitely going to be okay.

"Harry doesn't go around beating people up for fun." India retorted, wiping the last spot of blood from Draco's face.

"Oh, of course! The Boy Who Lived wouldn't hurt a fly. What, you think he didn't know what Sectumsempra did?" Draco asked angrily.

"I don't know." India said exasperatedly. She knew Draco was not going to tell her, so she decided to look for herself. Entering his mind, she watched the fight between Draco and Harry unfold as Moaning Myrtle screamed in alarm. They shot spell after spell at each other, until finally, Draco screamed "Cru-" but was cut off by Harry, who screamed "Sectumsempra!" at the top of his lungs. India came back to reality as fast as possible, not wanting to see the after-effects of Harry's spell.

"You were going to torture him!" India cried angrily, glaring at Draco. Draco glared back but could only meet her fiery eyes for a moment before he dropped his own and looked away.

"I made you feel guilty didn't I?" India teased. "What an accomplishment." She said mockingly, laughing as Draco looked back up at her, furious.

Madam Pomfrey and her mother finished sewing up his wounds and then there was nothing left to do but wait for them to heal. As much as she thought it wise to go see Harry and get a clearer idea of just how much he had found out, India pulled up a chair and sat down next to Draco's bed. She took hold of one of his hands and chuckled. He shot her a look of annoyance, but held her hand tightly.

"Here, I have something for you." India said suddenly, remembering the photograph. She pulled the old moving picture out of the pocket of her robes and handed it to Draco.

"My parents?" He asked in surprise. "Where did you get this?"

"My parents' room." India replied. She had told him about the room, but had refused to tell him where it was, what was in it, and how to get in.

"You need to bring me there sometime." Draco announced, and India laughed.

"No way. That room is full of information about my father. If you found out something about him that he didn't want you to know..." India trailed off, shuddering.

"Did you tell Potter?" Draco asked immediately, and India pulled her hand away.

"What is it with you and Harry anyway!? You are both driving me insane! Harry never stops going on about how he thinks you're a Death Eater and I have to keep saying, "No Harry, I know he's not a Death Eater, don't be stupid.", and you are so jealous of him you can't even hear his name without getting upset!" India cried angrily.

"You didn't answer my question." Draco replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, if you must know, I told Harry." India replied exasperatedly. "It's his job to know, he's the only one who can stop my father." She explained.

"I really need to teach you Occlumency." India realized after a short pause. "If I can get into your mind, my father definitely can, and I'm telling you stuff that is not meant for his ears." India finished, suddenly regretting having mentioned the room at all.

Draco, however, ignored her last remark.

"Does everyone honestly believe Potter's the _Chosen One_? I mean, is there really anything special about him? I don't understand why everyone-"

"Please stop talking." India said, cutting him off.

She bent down and kissed him on the lips. When she pulled back and sat back down on her chair he seemed calmer and she hoped against hope that he would let the subject of Harry drop. Draco smiled up at her and India's heart swelled with happiness at the sight of it. He never smiled like that around other people, if someone were watching them right now, India was willing to bet they wouldn't recognize Draco.

"You are very bossy, you know that right?" Draco said, laughing. India beamed.

"Yes, well I am the daughter of a Lord so I think I have the right." She joked.

India wished she could stay here all day, but she knew she needed to talk to Harry. Reluctantly, she stood up and grabbed hold of Draco's hand.

"I have to go find Harry. Who knows how much he found out, I need to do some damage control." India sighed and squeezed his hand once before letting go of it. Draco scowled at her, the smile India loved disappearing at the mention of Harry's name. Just like that, he was back to being an arrogant prat.

"You can tell Potter I think he's a nosy git and to stay the hell away from me." Draco snarled, pushing himself into a seated position and crossing his arms.

"I love you." India said, choosing to ignore his last words and hoping to change the subject.

It worked. Draco's face softened slightly and he scoffed.

"Well I love you too." He replied.

India bent down once more to give him a hug and a kiss, and with a final goodbye, left the hospital wing.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: The plan

India left the hospital wing in a good mood despite her nagging worries. She was not particularly looking forward to the conversation she was about to have with Harry, and she wished she could stay seated next to Draco's bed for the rest of the day. They could talk of anything and everything and maybe then she could forget that they were all in the middle of a war. A war that her own father had created.

Arriving at Gryffindor tower, India entered the common room and was not surprised to see Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny all huddled up in a corner, talking about the fight. They looked up as she walked over, and India couldn't help but think that Ginny didn't look too pleased to see her. However, India chose to ignore this and sat down next to Hermione and Harry.

"How is he?" Harry asked as soon as she'd sat down.

"Perfectly fine, there's no lasting damage, except maybe to his pride. You're about the last person on earth he'd want to see him cry, and that's saying something." India replied.

"I didn't mean to hurt him." Harry said quickly, "I didn't know what that spell did...I just found it in my potions book."

"You see!" Hermione interrupted. "I told you that Prince character is no good! You should have handed it in at the beginning of the year."

"She's right." India said, nodding her head and trying not to smile. She happened to know exactly who that "Prince character" was.

"If it weren't for that book, Ron wouldn't be alive right now. _And," _continued Ginny, giving India a dirty look, "Malfoy deserved what he got, he was about to use an unforgivable curse on Harry!"

"He did _not_ deserve it!" India answered hotly. "Harry, I don't blame you at all, I know it was an accident, but to say that Draco deserved to be hurt that badly..." India trailed off, remembering what she had just witnessed.

"Ok well imagine if the roles were reversed." Ginny retorted, "Would Malfoy have cared if he had beaten Harry? How many times has that git tried to make Harry's life a living hell? Tell me one good reason why he shouldn't get a taste of his own medicine once in a while?"

India's face flushed with rage. "People who don't know what they're talking about should keep their mouths closed." She snapped at the redheaded girl.

"Whose side are you on anyway?" Ginny asked suddenly, "Harry, tell her what you saw on the map!"

Ginny looked at Harry expectantly, and Harry, unsure whether he wanted to enter into this argument, averted his eyes and fixed a spot on the floor.

"I was in my parents' room." India explained, before Harry even opened his mouth. "I've been going there in secret all year; mostly during the night. If you don't believe me, I can take you there right now." India looked at Harry, waiting for a reaction. Finally, he raised his head and looked at her.

"I believe you, but I would like to go there all the same." Harry said. "It's just, you aren't always the most honest person."

Now it was India's turn to look down at the floor. She had turned out just like her mother, constructing a web of lies around every aspect of her life. The insult stung even more knowing it was true.

"I know, I'm sorry." India replied. "I don't like talking about my father." She said, unable to think of another excuse.

Harry, however, seemed satisfied.

"How about we go there after class tomorrow?" He asked, and India nodded, smiling. Ginny, on the other hand, stood up abruptly and crossed her arms.

"You still trust her? She's the daughter of Voldemort, she's dating the son of a Death Eater, and she lies through her teeth night and day!" Ginny exclaimed.

"Ginny calm down, you're not thinking clearly." Hermione said, surprising both India and Harry. Ginny's face flushed and she turned on her heel and stalked off up to her dormitory. The moment the door closed behind her, India realised something that made her want to laugh out loud.

"She likes you Harry, she's jealous of me!" India exclaimed in Parselmouth so that Ron and Hermione couldn't understand. Harry looked at her in confusion.

"Do you know how I know?" India continued, "She's acting like Draco does when I talk about you." India said, bursting out laughing.

When India was finally able to catch her breath long enough to notice Harry's strange expression, she fought hard to regain her composure. He loves her too, she thought, I was right! Smiling to herself, India stood up and stretched her arms above her head. Her eyes fell on the circular clock above the fireplace.

"Time for detention with Snape." She said smiling, making Ron roll his eyes.

"Maybe Ginny's on to something. There really must be something wrong with you if you can enjoy Snape's detentions this much." Ron said jokingly, speaking for the first time since she had entered the room. India rolled her eyes at him in return, and waving goodbye, left the common room once more.

. . . . . .

"This is your last detention. As of tomorrow, your evenings are free." Snape said, as India entered the room and closed the door to his office behind her.

"Are you serious?" India asked incredulously, "You should have given me more warning, now I only have one night to think up something else I could do to land me in detention for the rest of the year." India joked.

"Why not use Sectumsempra on Potter?" Snape suggested, smiling mockingly.

India shot him a look of annoyance and sat down on the chair on the opposite side of the desk from where Snape was sitting. Snape picked up a pile of first year essays and handed them to her wordlessly.

"He didn't even know what the spell did, it was only self-defense." India said irritably, wishing they could talk of anything but this.

"How long have you known he's had my old Potions book?" Snape asked her suspiciously, not looking up from the essay he was correcting.

"Since ever." India replied shortly. "Although, Hermione and I keep telling him that the Half-Blood Prince seems like a shady character." India said, a smirk creeping onto her face. She looked up and met Snape's black eyes and laughed at his expression of annoyance.

"Well, it certainly does explain why he's been doing so well in Potions this year. He's never had any _real_ talent." Snape said venomously, and India chose to ignore this rather rude comment.

India sighed and laid her head in the palm of her hand as she read a very poorly written first year essay. She wished more than anything that she could tell Harry what was going on. Why Dumbledore wanted to keep Draco's mission a secret, she had no idea. All she knew was that it was some plan involving Snape. Why did her mother know then? There was no reason why Dumbledore should tell her something she wasn't involved in, she must have figured it out. But how?

As the hour progressed, India fell to imaging all sorts of scenarios that could explain Dumbledore's desire to keep the whole thing hushed up. Her imagination was limitless and she came up with stories all more unlikely than the others. All of a sudden, the realisation hit India so suddenly that she nearly dropped the pen she was holding.

How could she have not put two and two together before? The ring, Dumbledore's dead hand, Draco's mission, the plan involving Snape. They were all connected and her mother knew what was happening because it was her fault. She had cursed the ring that had been a Horcrux, Dumbledore had found it, touched it, and been cursed. That was why his hand was dead, and it was probably only a matter of time until the curse spread to the rest of his body. No wonder he wasn't worried about Draco killing him, only...it wasn't going to be Draco who would be killing him..It was going to be Snape.

"You're the assassin." She whispered, looking up at Snape, her face white. Snape didn't even blink and India thought uneasily that his eyes resembled black holes.

"What more proof does Voldemort need to trust you?" India breathed, figuring it out as she went. "No one ever imagined Draco would kill him did they? Not even my father; he knew Draco wouldn't be able to go through with it. You made that unbreakable vow to Aunt Cissy because Dumbledore told you to." India paused and looked down at the essay she was correcting without seeing it.

"After you kill him...the whole world is going to think you're a Death Eater. And, that's good." India finished quietly, looking back up at Snape, whose face was even more pale and sallow than usual.

"You're too clever for your own good." Snape replied, "You must NEVER tell anyone anything of this. Do you understand me?" India was taken aback by the intensity of the look Snape was giving her.

"I swear I won't say a word." India breathed, making direct eye contact to show that she intended to keep her promise.

They sat in silence for a minute, until finally Snape nodded curtly at the clock.

"Your detention's over, you can leave now." Snape stated, his face unreadable.

India nodded, stood up quietly, and left the room in silence.

. . . . . .

Draco was out of the hospital within a week's time, although India thought he would have milked it a lot more had he not been preoccupied with returning to the Room of Requirement to continue whatever it was he did in there. Pansy had gone to visit him during his time in the hospital wing, but he had pretended to be asleep every time she entered the room. Pansy was no fool and knew very well that he didn't want her there. Her sole consolation was in taking advantage of Draco's absence in class to give India the most snide looks and comments as possible. India, however, couldn't have cared less. Although, the whole thing didn't do much to improve her opinion of Pansy.

Two days after his return to class, Draco came over to India's table just before the end of Potions class; a rare event, seeing as he loathed her friends. India looked up in surprise and would have begun laughing had it not been for the tone in which he began speaking.

"As soon as class ends, meet me by the lake. I need to tell you something." Draco said, his voice urgent and his face set. Hermione, Ron, and Harry looked up at the sound of his voice, confusion mingled with dislike showing plainly on their faces.

"Can't we talk inside the school?" India asked, "Me and Hermione have Ancient Runes right after Potions. I don't want to be late."

Draco exhaled, "Fine, but you can't bring _her_." He said, giving Hermione a dirty look.

"I have a name, by the way." Hermione said, annoyance apparent in her voice.

Draco turned to face her and India held her breath. She dreaded all contact between Draco and her friends and tried to avoid it as much as possible.

"There are many names I would like to call you, but I know that if I do, India won't speak to me to a month and I kind of need to tell her something very important at the moment." Draco spat.

"There are quite a few names for you too." Ron piped up, glaring at Draco.

Draco opened his mouth to retort, but India cut him off before he could even begin.

"Don't. We'll, talk after class." India said assured him, gently nudging him in the arm to hint that he should be going back to his own table now. However, just at that moment, Slughorn's booming voice rang out, signaling that class was over. Draco left their table to go gather up his things and India was left once again to attempt to undo the damage Draco had done to her friends' good humour.

"That arrogant git. I honestly don't know how you put up with him." Ron began immediately and India let out a sigh.

"He doesn't act like that _all_ of the time, I swear!" India began, but stopped herself, realising that she was never going to convince Ron of all people that Draco wasn't quite as big of a prat as he pretended to be.

Hermione gave her a kind smile and patted her on the arm. "I believe you." She assured India, and India felt a surge of gratitude towards Hermione.

"Thank you." She replied, smiling. "See you in ten minutes."

Noticing that Draco was already at the door to the classroom, waiting for her, India picked up her books and left her friends to go join him.

"You know, for some reason, Ron doesn't believe me when I tell him you don't act like a git all the time." India said irritably, as soon as her and Draco were out of ear shot of the rest of their classmates. Draco shot her a look of annoyance.

"Then stop lying to him. Even I will admit he's not enough of an idiot to believe that." Draco spat angrily, walking so fast, India nearly had to run to catch up. They reached an empty classroom and entered it before closing the door behind them. Already regretting her words, India pulled him into a hug and laid her cheek on his shoulder, her face buried in his neck. Draco turned his head to kiss her hair before pulling back and looking at her intently.

"I did it." He said, looking half excited half terrified.

"You did it?" India replied, completely confused.

"Yes. I did it; I fixed it." Draco repeated. India stared at him in bewilderment for a moment before the meaning of his words sunk in.

"Oh. You did it." She breathed, unsure whether this was good or bad news. Draco looked at her nervously, and India forced a smile onto her face.

"So when are you going to finish your job?" She asked, not wanting to put into words what Draco thought he was going to have to do.

"Two days from now." Draco replied, his face whitening. India squeezed his hand.

"After that I won't be able to come back to Hogwarts. Although, I doubt Hogwarts will remain open if Dumbledore's gone." He continued, unable to look India in the eyes. "Your mother better have a good plan." Draco said finally, laughing humorlessly.

"Yeah, about that. I figured it out." India said quietly, "It's...for the greater good." India continued uncertainly, unable to decide whether or not she considered it a good plan.

"I should go." India said after a moment when Draco didn't answer. She gave him a final hug, pulled open the door to the classroom, and walked out into the hallway. Draco followed her out, and India couldn't help but notice that his hand shook ever so slightly as he pulled on the doorknob to close the door behind them.

"Meet me in the library after supper?" India suggested, and Draco nodded solemnly.

"See you then." He said as India waved goodbye and set in the direction of her Ancient Runes classroom.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: The view from the astronomy tower

The next two days passed in a daze. India did her best to act as if nothing was wrong, but Hermione, unlike Harry and Ron, was not fooled. She had noticed the difference in India's behavior immediately after she had come back from her conversation with Draco, and Hermione had strong suspicions as to the reason for India's change of mood. However, she decided to leave it alone and resolved to not ask India exactly what Draco had told her that day.

On a brighter note, Harry and Ginny had finally started dating. India was thrilled for them and forced a smile onto her face every time she saw them together. Ginny, like India had suspected, had in fact been worried India and Harry liked each other as more than friends, but was now convinced otherwise. Even Draco seemed to relax a bit when he heard they were dating, something which India was very happy about. This said, Draco was anything but relaxed during the days leading up to the night scheduled for Dumbledore's murder.

When the dreaded day finally arrived, India woke up to bright sunlight streaming in through the window. What a beautiful day, India thought sarcastically as she rolled out of bed. Without waking her other roommates, India left the dormitory and made her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. It was still very early in the morning and only a few other students were eating breakfast by the time she arrived. Noticing Draco sitting by himself over at the Slytherin table, she walked over and sat down on the bench next to him.

"How did you sleep?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"I didn't." He replied sullenly.

India sighed and poured herself a bowl of cereal.

"So you're joining Slytherin now, are you?" He asked with just the hint of a smile, gesturing towards her bowl of cereal.

"I can sit here without becoming a snake, thank you very much." India retorted, smiling despite herself.

The rest of breakfast was spent mostly in silence. Neither India nor Draco wanted to talk about what they knew was going to happen that night, and both were too consumed with their own worries to think of much else. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the Great Hall, Draco stood up abruptly and said he was going to go back to the Slytherin common room, so India walked over to her friends at the Gryffindor table.

"You didn't really eat breakfast at the Slytherin table did you?" Ron asked incredulously as soon as India sat down.

"Well you were all asleep and Draco was the only Slytherin there so I figured I might as well." India replied, annoyed but not surprised at his reaction.

Ron snorted into his cup of orange juice, Harry chuckled, and even Hermione half-smiled. India jumped to her feet, deciding she couldn't handle Ron's comments at the moment. She knew his hatred of Draco was justified but it still bothered her immensely and she had no patience to deal with it that morning.

"India, just ignore him and sit down." Hermione pleaded, but India turned away and walked out of the Great Hall without a second glance.

. . . . . .

India spent the rest of the day in a bad mood and spoke very little to anyone. Since Ron was slightly annoyed with her and she was more than slightly annoyed with him, they never spoke another word to each other until the moment Harry came running into the common room where India was watching Hermione and Ron play a game of chess.

"Listen! Dumbledore thinks he knows where a Horcrux is. I just came back to get my invisibility cloak and then we're going to go find it." Harry whispered, his voice low and intense.

"What? Where?" Hermione whispered back anxiously.

"I don't have time to talk about it right now, but I need you guys to do something for me while I'm gone. India," Harry paused and looked at her nervously, "I'm sorry but you all need to watch Draco while I'm gone. Dumbledore's absence is the perfect opportunity for him to go through with whatever it is he's supposed to do, so you can't let him out of your sight. Same goes for Snape."

Hermione, Harry, and Ron all looked at India, waiting for her already hot temper to flare up again. To their immense surprise however, India sighed resignedly and accepted the Marauder's map that Harry held out to her without a word. Whatever happened tonight, the Marauder's map couldn't be of no use.

Reassured by India's unusual compliancy, Harry pushed a pair of old socks into Ron's hands.

"What-" Ron began, but was cut off by Harry.

"It's the rest of the Felix Felicis, split it between yourselves and Ginny." Harry whispered and then ran off up the stairs before Hermione could protest.

As soon as Harry had left the room, India opened the Marauder's map and looked frantically for Draco's name. To her great relief, she saw that he was still in his common room. Snape, for his part, was pacing his office. India shook her head and looked up to find Hermione staring at her with a worried expression on her face. India was almost certain Hermione guessed that this was the night when Draco would carry out whatever plan he'd been working on in the Room of Requirement. What she didn't know was that Dumbledore's great plan to stop Draco didn't involve saving his own life. India wanted nothing more than to tell Hermione about Snape's role in tonight's plan, but she knew that for Voldemort to truly trust Snape, no one, especially not someone so close to Harry, could know he was still loyal to Dumbledore after this night.

"Here, you look for signs of suspicious activity. I have better things to do that spy on my teacher and my boyfriend." India said, rolling her eyes and handing the map to Ron.

Ron shrugged his shoulders and laid the map out in front of him on the table next to the chess board.

For the next half an hour, nothing changed. Barely a word was spoken between the three of them and none of them could stop worrying about the safety of both Harry and Dumbledore. Every few minutes, they would check the map, but it was always the same. Draco and Snape remained where they were supposed to be.

And then it happened. Hermione searched the map for over a minute before declaring that Draco's dot had disappeared. In a heartbeat, Ron stood up and decided that they all needed to go to the Room of Requirement and wait for Draco to leave, so as to ambush him. India began to protest, but allowed herself to be persuaded and didn't even bother to stop Ron as he ran over to where Ginny was sitting and brought her back to them, explaining what they were to do as he went. Hermione grabbed the socks containing the Felix Felicis and they were out of the common room before anyone even noticed they were leaving.

As quickly and as quietly as possible, the four of them crept along the dark hallways leading towards the Room of Requirement. India could feel her heart pounding in her chest as they finally rounded the last corner and came in view of the Room of Requirement.

"Now what?" Ron whispered to no one in particular.

"Now we wait." Hermione answered.

The silence that followed was tense with anticipation and fear. India had just begun wondering how long they would be forced to wait here when the door to the Room of Requirement suddenly opened and Draco walked out, followed by none other than Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback. India saw Draco take one look at them before everything went pitch black and she heard the Death Eaters footsteps running away down the hallway. India felt a hand grab her own hand and squeeze it gently before she felt it let go, and heard the feet of that same person run away down the hallway, following the Death Eaters. In vain, India tried to run after them, but only succeeded in bumping into Hermione and stepping on Ginny's toes. When at last the darkness let up, the Death Eaters were no where to be seen.

With shaking hands, Hermione undid the socks and took out the vile of Felix Felicis. She opened it, took a sip, and then passed it to Ron.

"Not too much, Ginny and India need some too." She cautioned him and he gave her a withering look.

"I don't need any." India said when Ron tried to pass her the vile. "They can't touch me, my father would kill them."

"Take it anyway." Hermione insisted. "Spells could misfire. Anything could happen."

India hesitated a moment, before finally lifting the vile to her lips and pretending to take a sip. She then handed the vile to Ginny and thanked the darkness for letting her get away with it without Hermione seeing.

"I'm not going to say I told you so because that privilege belongs to Harry, but-" Ginny began as she lifted the vile to her mouth.

"Just drink the potion." India said sourly, interrupting Ginny and turning away from her so as to hide her flushed cheeks. India couldn't help but wonder if Ginny would like her more or less if she knew the whole story.

As soon as Ginny had drank the last drop of the potion, they ran as fast as possible down the corridor the Death Eaters had taken, wondering how they were ever going to find them again. However, as they neared the Great Hall, it became apparent that they wouldn't have to look too hard. Sounds of a battle came to their ears and India felt more terrified than she had ever felt before. She hadn't counted on this; a battle might mean more than one death tonight.

India, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione entered the Great Hall to find it packed with teachers, Death Eaters, and to their surprise, members of the Order. Ron and Ginny gasped as they saw Fleur Delacour, on the far side of the room kneeling over what looked like their brother Bill. In an instant, they sprinted off to see what had happened and Hermione followed them only to get caught up in a duel with a large blonde-haired Death Eater.

India searched the room frantically and finally spotted her mother over by the back of the hall in a duel with Bellatrix Lestrange; the only person who possibly hated Iris enough to kill her. Draco and Snape were no where to be seen, and India quickly realized that the purpose of this fight was simply to distract the teachers and give Draco the time he needed to do his job.

Noticing that Professor Flitwick seeing to be losing a battle to a short and somewhat stubby Death Eater woman, India whipped out her wand to curse her when she felt a hot hand clasp on to her arm.

"Hello India, my pretty girly! You've grown up since last I saw you." Fenrir Greyback taunted as she turned around to face him. His breath was foul and she saw with horror that specs of blood were dotting the corners of his mouth. India's face contorted into a look of utter disgust and she tried desperately to yank her arm free from his grasp.

"Let go of me you filthy animal!" India cried, aiming her wand at his face and crying "Stupefy!" before he even realized what was happening. Fenrir's grip on her arm slackened, and he fell to the ground with a thud. India shuddered and turned away from him to help Professor Flitwick.

At this moment, however, Bellatrix gave a cry from over where she was fighting with Iris Foryst, that seemed to signal to the rest of the Death Eaters that the time for fighting was over. Bellatrix turned tail and ran as fast as possible from the Great Hall, and India watched as her mother let her go, not even bothering to try to curse her. The other Death Eaters tried to follow but only a few made it out without getting pulled back into a fight by a teacher or member of the order. India ran out after the ones that escaped, following them as they ran up the staircase away from the Great Hall, shooting jinxes and hexes at their backs until finally Bellatrix was forced to turn back to find out what was delaying them.

"India, sweetheart!" Bellatrix exclaimed in a falsely sweet voice that made India's skin crawl. She knew the other Death Eaters would never dare touch her, but Bellatrix was different. To her, India was the child of the man she loved and her worst enemy.

"It's so nice to finally meet you darling! I've heard so much about you, you know." Bellatrix continued, walking down the stairs towards India. "You look like your mother, but your hair is the color of your father's, and...I've heard you have his temper. You're also a Parselmouth, am I right?"

"I've heard a lot about you too." India replied, glaring at Bellatrix, "How was Azkaban?" She taunted, anger boiling under her skin as she thought of all the horrible crimes she'd heard people accuse Bellatrix of committing.

Bellatrix laughed, and India felt a shiver go down her spine. "You're cute." Bellatrix said finally, smirking at her. "Why don't we go see your friend Draco for a minute, hmm?"

Before India realized what was happening, her hands were being tied behind her back by something that felt like rope except for the fact that it was not ruff. India scrambled frantically to free her wand hand enough to shoot a spell when she felt it being lifted out of her hands and saw it float over her head, right into Bellatrix's outstretched hand. The rope tightened around her wrists until her shoulders hurt and then twisted around to the front of her body to cover her mouth so that she was unable to scream.

"Now," Bellatrix said triumphantly, "why not come with us and watch the show? I'm sure your father would be thrilled to know you were able to witness the downfall of his greatest enemy."

Two stubby Death Eaters that looked like they were brother and sister caught hold of each of her arms and began dragging her up the steps. India refused to move at first, but Bellatrix kept tightening the ropes until she decided to cooperate and walk of her own free will all the way up to the astronomy tower.

By the they finally arrived at the top of the spiral steps, India felt like her shoulders were about to break off. Bellatrix pushed open the door leading outside and walked out to find Dumbledore slumped against the side of the tower and Draco standing in front of him, half-heartedly pointing his wand at him. Draco whirled around at the sound of the door opening and lowered his wand, stepping aside. He looked behind him to see who had come in and India saw his eyes widen in fear as he made eye contact with her, immediately noticing that she was tied up and held hostage by the people he himself had let into the castle.

"Good job Draco!" Bellatrix cried, coming over to pat him on the back and look at Dumbledore with disgust. "Now kill him." She urged him.

With a shaking hand, Draco began to lift his wand once more, but was saved by Snape, who burst through the door India and the Death Eaters had just came through and pushed past Bellatrix and Draco to stand in front of Dumbledore.

"Please." Dumbledore whispered hoarsely. "Please, Severus."

Slowly, India saw Snape raise his wand and for a minute she thought he wouldn't do it.

"Avada Kedavra!" Snape screamed finally, a shot of green light coming out of his wand and hitting Dumbledore square in the chest, the force of it knocking Dumbledore over the side of the tower and down onto the ground far below.

Silence followed, and then Bellatrix screamed for joy and was joined by all the other Death Eaters with the exception of Snape and Draco. Draco looked sick and Snape's face was hard; emotionless. After a moment, Snape grabbed Draco's arm and pulled him through the group of Death Eaters and down the stairs of the astronomy tower. The other Death Eaters followed, and Bellatrix ordered the ones holding India to just leave her tied up where she was. They pushed her on to her knees, making her shoulders sear with pain even worse than before, and disappeared down the staircase the way they had come.

India's mind was already reeling with the shock of what she had just witnessed when Harry suddenly appeared out of nowhere and nearly gave her a heart attack. Harry hurried over to her and quickly untied her wrists and mouth, and India moaned in pain as she rolled her shoulders slowly.

"Come on!" Harry pressed her, helping her to her feet. "We have to go, Snape's getting away!"

India stood up and looked at Harry as if almost in a daze. To her, it was over. Dumbledore was dead, the night was over, the Death Eaters would leave now, and the school would close for the year at the very least. Dumbledore had gotten his wish; now her father would never again doubt Snape's loyalty and that would be his downfall. There was nothing more to be said or done, but Harry didn't know this. All that was going through his mind was revenge. He didn't wait for her to follow, but sprinted down the spiral staircase after the Death Eaters until India heard his footsteps fade away to silence.

India stood on the abandoned astronomy tower and looked up at the Dark Mark above her head. She walked to the edge and looked down at the ground, where countless students and teachers were already assembled around Dumbledore's body. She looked around the tower, remembering every event that had taken place just a few minutes ago; the look of helplessness in Dumbledore's eyes, the sickness in Draco's face, the coldness of Snape's black eyes, the insanity of Bellatrix's laugh. No one was safe from this war, no one's lives were untouched. And it was all the fault of the father she had never met, never known.

In that instant India made up her mind; she knew what she had to do. She had lived in denial and fear for too long, it was time she faced her worst nightmare. With her mind set, she re-entered the dark castle and descended the stairs all the way down to the Great Hall. There were teachers here and there attempting to clean up the damage, but none of them were her mother, and none of them noticed her leave the front doors of the school and make her way down to the treeline of the Forbidden Forest. From there, she scanned the grounds, looking for Snape and Draco, until she finally spotted them heading towards the gate. They were almost there when India ran out from the cover of the trees and straight into Draco's arms, nearly knocking him over.

"India?" Draco said, puzzled, pulling her back so that he could see her face.

Snape pulled roughly on her arm and India detached herself from Draco to turn to face Snape.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Snape demanded, squeezing her arm so tightly it hurt.

"I'm coming with you." She said decisively, chancing a glance at Draco, who was staring at her in bewilderment.

"You are not!" Snape cried, finally letting go of her arm. "Where's your mother, she-"

"It's time I met my father." India said, cutting Snape off.

Snape's dark eyes bore into hers for a moment, and a long silence followed. Finally, Snape broke eye contact and turned away.

"Alright." She heard him say.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 1: Malfoy Manor

India pressed herself up against Draco as they followed Snape up the long path leading to the gates of Malfoy manor. The night was cold and damp, but the temperature was not the only thing making India shiver. Whatever warmth she had formerly possessed was now being seeped away by the fear that was gripping her.

Snape finally stopping in front of the giant iron gates that separated the mansion Draco called home from the rest of the world. India unconsciously squeezed Draco's hand even tighter as Snape performed the spells necessary to make the gates swing open on their own, revealing a giant manor, white against the black of the night sky. Snape stepped through the gate and then turned back to stare at India.

"Are you sure you want to do this, India?" Snape asked her, and India instantly felt her pride swell to block out her fear. Shaking herself, she nodded firmly and followed Snape through the gate, pulling Draco along with her.

The three of them walked up the long walkway in silence. Never in her life had India felt so scared to be at Malfoy manor. The garden that now seemed dark and dangerous had once been a playground, and the house that loomed menacingly up ahead of them had once been like a second home to her. Draco seemed to be thinking along the same lines as her and India thought that he looked even paler than usual in the moonlight.

When they arrived at the big brass doors of Malfoy manor, Snape never even had time to knock before the door on his right swung open to reveal a dark, but spacious entrance hall, and a middle aged woman with white blonde hair. Narcissa barely even acknowledged Snape's presence before rushing forward to throw her arms around Draco with something like a sob. India let go of his hand and stepped into the house after Snape, looking around anxiously for any signs of other people.

When Narcissa finally released her son and turned to speak to Snape, her eyes fell instead on India, and India had the feeling she was not quite as welcome in Malfoy manor as she had been as a child. India scowled at her, and Narcissa opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by a high pitched and insane sounding laugh from the back of the entrance hall. India jumped and turned around to see Bellatrix leaning against the back wall, laughing and twirling her wand aimlessly.

"India, my sweet, long time no see! Have you come to join us after all?" Bellatrix cried mockingly and India had to fight to keep her voice even as she replied.

"I came to meet my father. That's all. I'm leaving after that."

"What, so soon?" Bellatrix cooed, making a pouty face that India wanted badly to slap.

Draco let out a short laugh and grabbed India's arm to pull her forwards.

"Come on India, the Dark Lord won't be here for a while, we may as well make some tea."

As they passed through the door to the living room, India looked over at Bellatrix and returned her mocking smirk with a look of pure hatred. It felt wrong to be in the same room as the woman who, earlier that night had had her tied and bound to watch her teacher murder the headmaster. Now, she had nothing better to do but make tea.

Nevertheless, India followed Draco into the kitchen to find an old house elf already at work, boiling the water for the tea. Draco sat down at the glass kitchen table and flipped through a copy of the Daily Prophet. India took up the seat next to him and sighed involuntarily as she sat down.

"What if he doesn't show up tonight?" Draco asked, looking up from the paper to study India's face worriedly.

"Then I stay the night." India replied matter of factly. "Do you mind?"

"No, obviously not." Draco said almost smiling. "Do you want your old room back?"

"I'm not sleeping tonight. Not after everything that's happened."

"Fine by me." Draco replied, as the house elf handed him a cup of tea and then proceeded to hand another to India.

The heavy silence that followed was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and closing. India and Draco exchanged a look before hurriedly rushing back out into the entrance hall expecting the worst.

However, the person at the door was much less frightening than they had expected. Iris Foryst stood next to Narcissa, removing her cloak while Narcissa spoke to her in anxious whispers. She looked up as India and Draco burst into the room and India thought she saw her mother sigh with relief. She had been worried? India found it hard to believe.

"India! How are you?" Iris exclaimed, walking over to hug her daughter.

"Fine." India muttered into her mother's shoulder.

Iris pulled back after a moment and searched her daughter's face. India felt her enter her mind and India felt a shiver run down her spine as her mother calmly watched the scene on the lightening tower play out in her mind. Finally, Iris pulled out and gave India a smile.

"There's going to be a funeral Monday. Do you want to go?" Iris asked.

"Yes." India replied, not wanting to talk about Dumbledore's death more than was necessary. Iris took the hint and changed the subject.

"Your father will be here soon." Iris said, turning to face Draco. "Tom's already got them released."

Draco swallowed and India wondered if he was glad or afraid that his father was out of Azkaban. Lucius had been safe from Voldemort while he had been in jail, now he would have to watch his every move.

"Thank God!" Cried Narcissa, putting a trembling hand on Iris's arm. "When?"

"Sometime tonight I think." Iris replied smiling.

"What's this?" Bellatrix's voice rang out from the doorway to the living room. "Lucius is coming back? The Dark Lord is merciful." She drawled, walking over to where the others were standing.

"Iris." She sneered, nodding at Iris with mock politeness.

"Bella." Iris replied, imitating Bellatrix's tone and gesture, before, unable to keep up the act, she broke into a genuine smile and laughed.

"How is your arm?" Iris asked, making Bellatrix roll her eyes.

"You know what that spell does. Come fix it." Bellatrix snapped, turning around to walk back into the living room. Iris followed her and India, Draco and Narcissa exchanged looks before following them in turn.

Bellatrix was already sitting on a pure mahogany chair with the sleeve of her wand arm pulled up to the elbow when they entered the room. Iris opened her purse and searched for the right medication before bending down to pick up Bellatrix's arm. It looked like it was covered in deep bruises, but on closer inspection, India realized with a jolt that the skin itself had turned to tree bark. Bellatrix winced as Iris applied the cream and India wondered how Bellatrix had manged to fight like she had that night when she could barely move her arm.

Almost instantly, the bark began to turn back into skin and Iris replaced the medicine in her purse and walked over to sit on the couch.

"Next time you use that spell I'll use crucio on you." Bellatrix mumbled, leaning back in her chair.

"Sure you will." Iris replied sarcastically, knowing full well that Bellatrix would never torture her for as long as she feared Voldemort.

Bellatrix narrowed her eyes, but didn't reply. Instead she turned to Narcissa.

"Well Cissy, you've sure done a good job at turning Draco into a softhearted fool."

Narcissa glared at Bellatrix and India felt her own cheeks flush red with anger. Beside her, Draco clenched his fists unconsciously.

"He got up there and just stood there. Couldn't even kill a helpless old man. Pathetic."

"Shut up." India snapped, unable to contain herself any longer.

"India." Draco warned, grabbing her arm to keep her from standing up.

"No she's right." A voice behind them said, making them all jump. "Shut up Bellatrix."

India knew who it was before she saw him. His face and hands were deathly pale and his eyes were red slits like the eyes of a snake. Where his nose should have been were two slits. Half man, half snake. He gripped the back of Iris's chair and examined India like she was a message in a language he couldn't understand.

"My Lord." Breathed Bellatrix, standing up hastily and bowing. Draco and Narcissa imitated her quickly. Only Iris and India remained seated.

Iris reached a hand up and entwined her fingers in Voldemort's long pale ones; visibly the only one completely at ease.

"Tom; this is India. Your daughter." Iris announced, and India's chest tightened until it felt like she couldn't breathe.

Finally standing up, Iris turned to face Voldemort. India felt horror surge through her as she watched the monster that was her father kiss her mother on the lips more gently than she would have thought possible. She held her breath until the moment was over and her mother nodded to Narcissa, Draco, and Bellatrix and gestured for them to follow her out of the room.

The door closed and India was left alone with the man who was once called Tom Riddle.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 2: Expectations

The grandfather clock on the wall ticked, India's heart pounded, and the house elf still in the kitchen opened and closed a cupboard door. Voldemort stood still, black against the white of the door, and stared at India as she finally stood up, crossing her arms as if to protect herself.

"India." Voldemort hissed in Parseltongue, seemingly thinking over the name.

"You look like a dark version of your mother." Voldemort commented, and India was reminded of how often she was told that.

"Why are you here?" Voldemort asked finally, and when India didn't answer, he laughed. "Have you come to join me after all? I thought you were a Gryffindor?Friends with Harry Potter?"

Suddenly, she felt the familiar pull on her mind, and India reacted instinctively, shielding her mind against Voldemort's attempts to read it. After a moment, he gave up and smirked at her.

"I should have known." Voldemort said, chuckling. "Iris's daughter would never be poor at Occlumency. "

Finally, Voldemort fell silent and India forced herself to say what she desperately wanted to.

"I found your room; the one at Hogwarts...with my mother's diaries..." India trailed off at the sight of pure terror and anger on Voldemort's face. This was exactly the reaction she wanted.

"I know what you did. I know your secret and I am going to tell to tell Harry Potter...unless of course...you promise me-unconditionally-that you will NEVER kill, or harm in any way, Draco and his parents." India glared at her father in defiance as he thought over her words; a mounting look of suspicion covering his face.

"That doesn't seem very much like a Gryffindor thing to do, India. You know how to kill me...and you're going to keep it a secret just to save your little boyfriend and his family? People who are far from being innocent in this war? You're willing to give up the only chance of defeating me for the life of Draco Malfoy? I'm not stupid _sweetheart."_

India winced at the term of endearment, but set her face in determination.

"I am your daughter, after all." She said, "Maybe I'm more of a Slytherin than I seem."

Voldemort laughed a cold, high laugh.

"You are exactly what you seem, and right now you seem to me to be lying. Either you don't really know the secret, you're for some reason unable to tell Harry Potter, or...Potter already knows." Voldemort's face seemed to look even more pale and snake-like than usual as he scrutinized India's face for some hint of the truth.

"Do you really want to take that chance?" India asked, trying desperately to not show her mounting panic.

It had been a mistake to try to bargain for Draco's safety, now it was only a matter of time before Voldemort found out Harry knew about the Horcruxes and re-hid them or increased the protection on them. She had made him suspicious and possibly taken away valuable time Harry could have used to hunt for Horcruxes before Voldemort found out he knew about them. In the end, she had only helped Voldemort, endangered Harry, and was no closer to protecting Draco than before.

Voldemort studied India for a moment longer before turning and grabbing on to the doorknob.

"For now." He said, opening the door and disappearing out into the entrance hall beyond.

. . . . . .

"You don't have to do this, you know." India said suddenly, looking up at Draco, who sighed.

"Yes, I do, India." Draco protested, sounding slightly annoyed. "He'll kill me and my parents."

"Not if we run away. We could join the Order or go help Harry...he needs all the help he can get."

"Oh, of course. You want to help Potter." Draco snapped bitterly.

"He's the only one who can get rid of Voldemort!" India hissed back angrily. "You do want that don't you?"

"Maybe, but it's not going to happen! Harry's on a suicide mission, he stands no chance against the Dark Lord and everyone knows it. I'm not going to join the side that is ultimately going to lose. If that makes me a coward than fine, I'm a coward. If you wanted a hero you should have gone to Potter!"

Draco turned away from India, his face flushed and furious. India stood rooted to the spot, unable to say a word. When she finally found her voice it came out cold and detached.

"I would rather die than see the day my father has control over the wizarding world. Some things are more important than life."

Draco didn't reply, and in the silence of the room India felt like crying.

"I don't want you to be Harry, Draco." India said finally in a small voice. "You're the one who wants to be Harry."

"I do not want to be Potter!" Draco protested, finally turning around to face her.

"You've been jealous of him since you met him!" India cried.

"I have not!" Draco yelled back, "I just don't think it's fair that he's so famous just for not dying when he should have! Now everyone thinks he's the chosen one and they're all practically worshiping him! I mean, he's just an orphan! His parents were nothing special, he's not brilliant, or super good looking or anything, but people treat him like he's royalty! Snape sees it! He sees how much Potter loves the attention, and he sees how Potter thinks he can get away with anything just because he's _Famous Harry Potter_! But you, you think he's a saint! You think he's brave and heroic and noble and all that! When you talk to me, I can see it in your eyes, you're always wondering: Why can't Draco be like Harry? Why is Draco so selfish and conceited? Yeah well maybe I am! Maybe I am a spoiled brat! Maybe I am a bully and a Death Eater! And maybe I am jealous of Potter! Maybe I'm jealous because you like him better than you'll ever like me!"

India stared at Draco as he wiped his eyes free of the few tears that had escaped them during his rant. She felt caught between guilt and anger; unable to decide which of them was at fault. It was true, what he said. She wished he would be brave and selfless like Harry; she was angry when he wasn't. And yet, was it wrong to wish that? Confused beyond all comprehension, India decided to stick to what she knew was true.

"If I loved Harry more than you, why would I still be here? Why wouldn't I have gone back to the castle to comfort him?" India paused to heave a shaking breath. "I don't want my father to hurt you!" She exclaimed, her voice breaking. "I don't want you to be forced into doing whatever he makes you do in fear for your life. And...I-I don't want to fight you. We've already been there, done that."

Draco stared at the ground with an intensity that India found hard to bear. She wished he would just look at her, give her some sign that he understood.

"I'll love you no matter what you do. I don't want a hero, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you very much." India said, cracking a smile despite everything.

"I want _you_. I am in love with Draco Malfoy. If that means I am in love with a coward, a prat, a bully, a Death Eater...then fine! See if I care!" India paused, "But...I also think you're a lot better person than you give yourself credit for." She finished quietly, fighting to stay composed.

Somewhere during India's speech, Draco had given up trying to stop the tears from falling and was crying steadily.

"I'm sorry." He croaked and India's last remaining bit of composure dissolved into a sob. Draco closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her tightly as if she was the only thing keeping him from drowning. India buried her face in his shoulder and her entire body shook with her sobs. For a long time, they stood there in silence, unbroken except for the sound of their crying, not daring to let go. India knew that when she left Malfoy Manor in the morning, she would not be able to come back. She would have to cut off all contact with Draco or risk her father intercepting the letters.

She could not take that chance.


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: All belongs to JK Rowling.**

Chapter 21: Home

When India next woke, the sun was pouring in through the windows of Draco's bedroom and she was still curled up next to Draco in the same position in which she had fallen asleep. Blinking her eyes sleepily, she looked around the room, wondering how it could look the same as it always had when everything else was so different.

As silently as possible, so as to not wake Draco, India climbed out of bed and softly padded towards the bedroom door. She wished momentarily that she had toothpaste and a change of clothes, but the thought was soon pushed out of her head by more pressing worries.

"What time is it?" Draco croaked, and India spun around, her hand on the doorknob. She had hoped to escape without having to say goodbye.

"I don't know. Early." She replied, letting go of the doorknob to come sit back down on the bed.

"I thought we weren't sleeping tonight." Draco said, making an attempt at humor. India, however, was too weary to even make a comment.

"I'm going downstairs. " She announced instead, and Draco rose to follow her as she walked back towards the door.

The hallway was full of sunlight and India would have found it beautiful had she been in a better mood. Draco slipped his hand into hers as they made their way down the grand marble staircase that led to the entrance hall, and India wished against all odds that Draco would change his mind and come with her. But that, she knew, was a lost cause.

India and Draco entered the living room to find Iris deep in conversation with Snape, who stopped talking abruptly when he saw them.

"India, I'm so sorry I had to leave last night. McGonnagall called me back to Hogwarts and I didn't have time to wait for you to be done your conversation with your father. We can talk about this more when we get home." Iris said, as soon as she laid eyes on her daughter.

"Home?" India asked, surprised. "Aren't we going back to Hogwarts first?"

"There is no Hogwarts. At least not for now." Snape snapped, and India turned to look at him.

"I wonder whose fault that is." She spat angrily, willing him to understand that she was only playing the part. She had to pretend to hate him, if Narcissa or Bellatrix or...was Lucius back?...if any of them realized she didn't really blame him for Dumbledore's death, his cover would be broken and he would be exposed as a spy.

Snape glared at her, his face unreadable, and India felt uneasy.

She pushed the worry from her mind and walked past them quickly into the kitchen where a house elf was already busy frying eggs on the stove.

"Hey, can I have some of those too?" She asked the house elf before turning around to look at Draco. He nodded at the house elf and sat himself down at the table wordlessly, fingers tracing circles on the plate in front of him.

India took the seat across from him and reached out to take his hands in hers.

"We'll be ok." She whispered in Parseltongue.

Draco looked up at her and studied her face for a moment as if trying to read her mind so as to find out what it was she had just said. India gave a taught smile and let go of his hand to lean backwards to allow the house elf to place the plate of eggs on the table in front of her.

"Thank you Crumpit!" India exclaimed, giving the elf a large smile.

Crumpit lowered his eyes in fear and gave a low bow, his whole body trembling. Shocked at the fear she seemed to be evoking in the elf she had known her whole life, she looked up and shot a look of confusion and worry at Draco. Draco, however, was staring right past her at something behind her head. India whirled around in her chair and jumped in surprise at finding herself looking up into the sunken in, emaciated face of Lucius Malfoy.

"Good morning Miss Foryst. I certainly didn't expect to see you hear. Much must have changed since I went away." Lucius drawled, sounding much more like his old self than he looked.

India was silent for a moment, unsure of what to say. However, before she could reply, her mother and Snape entered the kitchen and her mother nearly ran towards Lucius, embracing him like a brother. After a moment, she pulled back and examined his sunken cheeks and dark eyes, muttering to herself.

"You need to eat." Iris decided and turned around to nod at Crumpit, who was still crouched down in a low bow. The elf stood up immediately and hurried to start cooking, still trembling from head to toes. India guessed life must have been quite a bit easier for the house elves while Lucius had been gone and they were terrified to have him back.

Snape stepped forward to shake Lucius's hand before announcing that he needed to leave and walking back out the way he had come in. Iris turned to her daughter.

"We should go too, India. I need to be back at the castle by 10:30, we can collect your stuff then."

India nodded silently, stood up, and gestured to Draco to follow her out of the room. Draco looked nervously at his father, but bowed his head and followed her out of the kitchen anyway. India climbed the stairs two at a time, Draco following close behind her, until finally she reached the uppermost level and stopped to catch her breath.

"From now on, do not make any attempt to contact me. Swear to me you won't, no matter what happens. If we're going to be on opposite sides of this war, then this is how it needs to be. He can't hurt me so he's going to hurt the ones I love. He's going to use you to get to me, but no matter what he says, I seriously doubt he would go so far as to kill you. Still, as long as he knows I care about you, you're in danger." India paused, and took in the look of utter desperation of Draco's face.

"Who knows how long..." Draco trailed off, and India shook her head resolutely.

"We can't afford to think like that." India said, "We can only live day by day; no expectations."

Draco stepped forward and pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back and holding her more tightly than ever before.

"Tell Potter he better kill the Dark Lord soon or I'll kill him." Draco muttered, and India wondered vaguely whether or not this was an attempt at humour.

In any case, it did little to lift India's spirits and she squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to stop herself from crying.

Finally, Draco pulled back to look at her.

"I love you." He whispered, reaching up to push her hair back behind her ear.

"I love you too." India breathed, leaning in to kiss him on the lips.

The kiss was warm and salty from the tears she could no longer stop from falling. This wasn't fair, she thought. Just as they had gotten back to where they had been before she'd shut him out, her own father was going to separate them indefinitely. He was going to be her enemy just as she'd finally started to think of him as an ally again for the first time in years.

This was not going to be the end of their story.


End file.
